Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.help_and_support (
More info?)
Confused wrote:
> From a network administration point of view, is it general practice in
> business or academic environments to log/store all IM
> traffic/activity/text? Or is the typical monitoring limited to
> watching file transfers on IM to prevent the spread of viruses?
From a business/academic system administration standpoint - monitoring such
traffic for the company/institution is a waste of valuable time and
resources. There are privacy concerns and it would likely only be done with
"probable cause" and then limited to a certain individual or individuals.
Normally - a good system administrator sets up the work/school/other
institutional environment PC in such a way that nothing that isn't installed
by the company technical support gets installed - also there may be a
firewall surrounding the company/institutional system as well as possibly
firewalls implementing on each individual machine. Not to mention Antivirus
and the likes not only on the individual machines (controlled by the
administrator, not the users) but on any file/email servers they provide for
the customers. They may have a network traffic sniffer in place looking for
suspicious activity - but the monitoring of that sniffer is usually
automated and only keyed in to the known "bad traffic". SNORT would be a
good example. If an Instant Message application is allowed/in use - usually
the precautions are common sense and antivirus software as well as Windows
XP's own execution prevention mechanisims - even just making the users just
"users" in security levels helps..
Not saying that a system administrator couldn't get more information than
they should be privy to very easily - just saying they usually do not have
the time nor inclination to do so.
--
Shenan Stanley
MS-MVP
--
How To Ask Questions The Smart Way
http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html