Can I find out if my employer is snooping on me?

Solution 1:

Typical software (Apple Remote Desktop, Casper, Absolute, VNC, etc) that allows remote monitoring of Macs will be reliant on a few things that the end user controls, assuming they have administrative privileges.

In System Preferences > Sharing a lot of this control is determined using these two preferences.

• Remote Management is centered around the Apple Remote Desktop capabilities, which are shared with most management suites. Screen sharing (or observing), file copying, reports, restart, shutdown, etc.

• Remote Login allows others to login remotely via the command line, using SSH.

These are the two options that I set on all of our owned Macs. With them I can remotely control, gather reports, copy files to/from, push updates, etc.

Another thing to look for is System Preferences > Profiles and/or other third party preference panes such as the Absolute Manage pane. Both of these are only present if they've been installed.

Profiles will show any installed management profiles. These could offer a wide range of control or settings. Clicking on a profile will show you the options it sets though.

Third party panes (or plugins) may not be as transparent as profiles but will still give you a clue as to what management is in place.

Hope that helps!