IT Policies

Clarifications

In my experience IT is inevitably asked to do some snooping on behalf of managers. I never do it without documentation and an explicit written/signed request by the department head and my manager(lol, and their manager depending on what user I'm snooping on). Always CYA. Just the same, I hate doing it because it always feels dirty, even if the "justification" seems sincere.

The employer has the right to any electronic communication that takes place on any employer owned computers. If the boss asks to see every incoming and outgoing email from a particular employee, then IT should be willing to deliver the messages without telling anyone else what he is doing. Company confidentiality is important to most companies, and if a breach of trust has been happening, it is important that it be dealt with.

It is not something to play around with. Typically IT is also made aware of who is getting fired, and dealt with securing their workstations and password while they are in the boss's office getting the bad news.

Unless an external investigator is called in, typically only IT has the skillset and level of access to gather evidence or perform surveilance.

That being said, if this evidence is to be used for legal proceedings, IT personnel need to be aware of the proper techniques for evidence collection and preservation such as proper chain-of-custody documentation, data forensics techniques, etc.

If you don't think this is important, go talk to my friend Carly over at HP.