Can the company see what I'm doing if I use PIA?

[Edgar R. Zakarian]

Hi guys,

 

So If I'm connected to the company WiFi, but have activated the VPN PIA, can the company see that I'm streaming netflix, or can they only see data going out to the VPN?

[Tegneren]

Its encrypted between your pc and the PIA node, so all they will see is that you are using a lot of bandwidth

[mike_seps]

Is it a company owned or provided device or your own? Company owned may have some monitors added in on the machine itself

[Eigenvektor]

They can't see the traffic's contents, but they can see that you're receiving a lot of data (through a VPN). Provided the PC itself isn't monitored, otherwise they can see that you're running Netflix.

 

Obviously, other people at work might still see you doing non-work related stuff and report you. Additionally, the network admins might get suspicious when they see your computer constantly receiving large amounts of data from somewhere that's not a company resource. You're opening yourself up to a lot of trouble if caught. They might even accuse you of spying on the company, since you're communicating with an outside server through an encrypted channel.

[Takumidesh]

Depending on the VPN setup, there may be IP and DNS leaks. Additionally you want to make sure kill switches are set up correctly to ensure that if the vpn drops for even a packet, that it doesn't try to transfer over an open connection.

 

As @mike_seps said, if it is a company owned device, there can be all types of additional monitoring installed on it, including things like keyloggers, screenshot tool, camera and microphone access, and packet sniffers.

 

If the VPN is set up correctly, and there are no local monitoring tools, then the company will only be able to see that you are connecting to an IP address (the VPN's endpoint) and that you have a lot of traffic between that endpoint.

[Edgar R. Zakarian]

Thanks for the replies guys. I've got plenty of info.