I will be logging into my bank account and my personal email accounts at work. Its not banned at work, but I just don't want them to save/log a copy of whatever I do with these services. Especially my passwords.
If the service uses a HTTPS connection, will my company be able to track/save/log my passwords, that I use for these services? what about the contents of the pages?
Again, rules in my company don't ban usage of my personal email account or internet banking services, but I just don't want them to know any important information about these. It is okay if they knew that I am using those, but they shouldn't get access to my passwords.
Can I safely use them (knowing my company can't save any of that data) if HTTPS is used?
P.S. I am really not a network guy and I don't know much about how these things work. So please don't give any RTFM replies.
48 Answers
Before answering: If a browser warns you a site is using poor encryption or supplying incorrect identity information, it's important to read the error, understand it, and think hard about whether you want to continue.
Short Answer: Yes, if you're using a trusted device
Long Answer:
If someone is monitoring your connection from another computer (somewhere between you and your bank) and you are using HTTPS, and they are using signed certificates with a suitably strong algorithm, then you are in the clear. (Unless they save the data for years and later read it after the algorithm is broken - but they'd likely be better off breaking into your house and stealing your stuff ;) ).
Chances are, if it's your bank, then they are using signed certificates with a suitably strong cipher. You can verify this by looking at the SSL information for the page, which should be displayed if you look at the page info, click on the Blue or Green name to the left in the address bar with Firefox 3.5, or click on the lock to the right in the address bar in IE8. Firefox will also display the encryption algorithm used if you select More Information after clicking on the coloured area.
If you don't trust the device you're using to connect (such as a computer that is not your own that could have been modified by others), then it's of greater concern. Now, your workplace is likely not going to do anything illegal like look at your banking information; but it is possible for SSL to be undermined if your system is compromised. It could be that your computer is configured to accept certificates signed by a proxy (inspection of the certificate or certificate pinning would thwart this). However, surveillance could be anywhere - a keylogger wouldn't even need to defeat SSL to capture your banking credentials, for instance. SSL makes it so you don't need to trust the connection between two trusted endpoints, but if the endpoint itself is untrusted, all bets are off.
2No, not neccessarily. Your company may send your connection through a proxy that acts as a man-in-the-middle. That is: All HTTPS traffic goes from your machine to the proxy, is decrypted there, analyzed, encrypted and sent to the server. Your machine will not use the security certificate from the server, but instead the proxy will generate one for the given website and send that to you, so you really have two HTTPS Connections: From you to the proxy and from the proxy to the server.
In other to make that happen, the company needs to have a certificate server to generate a certificate. Normally the browser would object here and complain that the certificate authority is not trusted, but of course that can be overridden through group policies and the like.
This is not necessarily foul play by the employer though, as this can be part of an anti-virus concept or due to legal reasons.
In your browser, look at the certificate. Especially, look at the certificate authority. If the certificate is issued by a "real" CA like Thawte, VeriSign etc., then that would mean that you're using the one from the server and you should be safe. However, if it is issued by something like "YourCompany-AV" or the like, then you have a man-in-the-middle proxy.
9Generally speaking, you are safe.Because the when you visit the website of bank through https connection, all data like user name and password are encrypted, it is hard to decrypt it in a very short time, unless they know the encryption algorithm very well. However, there's other attack such as key logger,man in the middle will work if they are knowledgeable.Always pay attention to the environment before you enter the sensitive information.
1If you are using a company owned machine and have agreed to the companies policies there may be issues at hand that are specific to your company. Without knowing any further details I'd say you should be secure, but I have to balance that with a caveat. Technically it is possible, but if you lead a "normal" life there are plenty of things that you face every day that present a much more likely risk to your personal data than the scenario that you are asking about.
Some basic things to be aware of. The company could still be aware of which sites you are visiting and for how long. The data may be encrypted, but it still has to be routed so the address that the data is going from and to is exposed.
The advice in other answers about taking advantage of any security features of your browser is good. I'll add that you should take a moment to review your companies policies that relate to personal data on work machines.
1Banks generally use a 128 bit encryption, or higher. Check the properties of their SSL cert, or even ask one of their technical support to find out what it is. If it's under 128 I would suggest not using it. But if it is 128 or over, you should be fine. Unless someone on the network with Ettercap, Wireshark, Shijack and a massive chip on their shoulder has something against you. If you're that worried about it, however, then simply don't use net banking at work. Then again, what's to stop someone cracking your computer at home to get your banking information? You're probably safer at work. My managers could barely check my browser history - I'd like to see them crack a SHA1-RSA encryption provided by a SSL cert.
2Effectively you are safe simply because generally network admins have better things to do. Technically, no, your data is not safe. You didn't say what field you were in, but call center work for example will have systems that are extremely monitored. Data encryption doesn't matter if keystrokes are being logged and the screen captured as a part of normal operation. If you are worried that admins may be inclined to look at your bank account information, then DO NOT use your work computer for banking.
Companies often use proxies and firewalls for network analysis, but you can be sure that https traffic cannot be sniffed by any of them. That's the basic principle of https, to prevent a man-in-the-middle attack.
4It is possible to save packets and break rsa encryption later on, though since the Internet is based on packet switching it is unlikely that any attacker would have enough substance to reconstitute TCP packets.
Everything and anything is possible.
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