this post was submitted on 05 Feb 2024
57 points (79.4% liked)
Linux
48310 readers
645 users here now
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).
Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.
Rules
- Posts must be relevant to operating systems running the Linux kernel. GNU/Linux or otherwise.
- No misinformation
- No NSFW content
- No hate speech, bigotry, etc
Related Communities
Community icon by Alpár-Etele Méder, licensed under CC BY 3.0
founded 5 years ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
IT will ask you the next day what you did to thier computer.
From a technical perspective I'm curious - how would they know a drive has been added without physically inspecting the laptop?
Microsoft system administrators have full access to any physical device information, this includes a report on new internal devices or changes. Your company may not be so serious about security, but why on earth are you willing to risk your livelihood on this?
Not just Windows sys admins ... I have this access to MacBooks, tablets, and phones in my company.
Windows, MacOS, Linux, iOS, Android ... If it's in use in an enterprise environment that knows what they're doing, they have full access to the device.
The drive is visible to the OS so if they have any kind of management software in place which looks for hardware changes it will be noticed.
Quite interesting. Thank you for the information!
Intel IME can snitch on this kind of thing. Completely independent of the OS too.
CPU/BIOS-level system management engines such as Intel IME/vPro or AMD Secure Technology give device access to IT even if the OS is replaced or the system is powered off.
If your IT staff isn't utilizing that technology, then when you boot into a corporate-managed OS, they can see any hardware that is currently connected to the system.
If they're not doing any monitoring at all, you're fine (but the viability of the business is in question). If they're doing OS-level monitoring, stick with the USB thing and leave it unplugged when booted into the corporate OS. If they're doing CPU-level monitoring, you're already likely flagged.
If you're unsure how much monitoring they're doing, attempting to find out may also be a resume-generating event (RGE). Cheers, and good luck!
I'm glad you asked, people provided some great answers.
Good rule of thumb is just don't mess with company property at all, cuz they'll know. For example I simply turned a wall TV on one weekend so my skeleton crew had something to do, and I was asked why a few days later. If it's electronic they can track it.