My employer had us install a software called “fleet osquery”, they said it’s a first step toward inventory management of all the devices for IT. I guess it also adds a layer of safety by making sure nobody installs any dangerous software/malware on their work devices.
Looking at the docs , it looks like this can be used to remotely execute scripts on my laptop, should I be worried about my employer spying on me during work hours ? Or logging information about what I’m doing ?
As someone that has managed MDM platforms before, I absolutely agree with this. If it’s a work laptop, then yeah they have the right to install MDM on it. If it’s a personal laptop, I really wouldn’t recommend it.
MDM gives the admins full control over the device. They can run commands to wipe the device, install software, set policies, gather inventory data, or any custom action they want.
The MDM platforms I’ve used can’t be used to spy on people, but they absolutely have the power to install software or run scripts that can spy on you. IT probably doesn’t have time to actually watch individual employees, but anything they do likely has a built in report that can give data on who did what, prioritizing based on whatever the company is looking for.
Always assume that companies are monitoring everything going on with the computers and WiFi networks that they own. They likely are checking things out to make sure activity is safe and appropriate.