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{{Short description|Software to monitor and supervise employee activity}}

'''Employee monitoring software''', also known as '''bossware''' or '''tattleware''', is a means of [[employee monitoring]], and allows company administrators to monitor and supervise all their employee computers from a central location.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-employee-monitoring-software.htm|title=What Is Employee Monitoring Software? (with pictures)|work=wiseGEEK|access-date=2018-01-02|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180102191525/http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-employee-monitoring-software.htm|archive-date=2018-01-02|url-status=live}}</ref> It is normally [[Software deployment|deployed]] over a [[business network]] and allows for easy centralized log viewing via one [[Centralized computing|central networked PC]]. Sometimes, companies opt to monitor their employees using [[remote desktop software]] instead.<ref>{{cite web|title=What is employee monitoring?|url=http://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/employee-monitoring|website=WhatIs.com|access-date=16 February 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180216144002/http://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/employee-monitoring|archive-date=16 February 2018|url-status=live|df=dmy-all}}</ref>

== Purpose ==
Insiders are the leading cause of [[data breach]]es around the globe. IBM found that 60% of all [[cyberattack]]s were caused by insiders.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Zadelhoff |first=Marc van |date=2016-09-19 |title=The Biggest Cybersecurity Threats Are Inside Your Company |url=https://hbr.org/2016/09/the-biggest-cybersecurity-threats-are-inside-your-company |access-date=2024-05-29 |work=Harvard Business Review |issn=0017-8012}}</ref> In its annual Data Breach Investigations Report, [[Verizon]] found an even higher impact, with 82% of all data breaches caused by unsecure or unintentional behaviors of employees.<ref>[https://www.verizon.com/business/en-gb/resources/2022-data-breach-investigations-report-dbir.pdf "Data Breach Investigations Report - 2022"] (PDF) Verizon, 2022. Retrieved 5/29/2024.</ref> IT organizations have turned to employee monitoring software to help detect and prevent insider threats.

Employee monitoring software is used to supervise employees' performance, prevent illegal activities, avoid confidential info leakage, and catch insider threats. Nowadays employee monitoring software is widely used in technology companies.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Ciocchetti|first=Corey A.|date=2011|title=The Eavesdropping Employer: A Twenty-First Century Framework for Employee Monitoring|url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1744-1714.2011.01116.x|journal=American Business Law Journal|language=en|volume=48|issue=2|pages=285–369|doi=10.1111/j.1744-1714.2011.01116.x|issn=1744-1714|url-access=subscription}}</ref>

== Features ==
An employee monitoring system can monitor almost everything on a computer, such as [[keystroke logging|keystrokes]], [[Mouse tracking|mouse movements]] and passwords entered, [[Web browsing history|websites visited]], chats in Facebook Messenger, Skype and other [[social media]]. A piece of monitoring software can also capture [[Screenshot|screenshots]] of mobile activities. E-mail monitoring includes employers having access to records of employee’s e-mails that are sent through the company’s servers.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal|last=Spitzmüller|first=Christiane|last2=Stanton|first2=Jeffrey M.|date=June 2006|title=Examining employee compliance with organizational surveillance and monitoring|url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1348/096317905x52607|journal=Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology|volume=79|issue=2|pages=245–272|doi=10.1348/096317905x52607|issn=0963-1798|url-access=subscription}}</ref> Companies may use [[keyword search]]es to [[natural language processing]] to [[Email privacy|analyze e-mails]].<ref name=":0" /> The administrator can view the logs through a cloud panel, or receive the logs by email.

Other kinds of monitoring include [[webcam]] and/or [[microphone]] activation, and "invisible" monitoring.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Gilliland|first=Donald|date=2021-07-24|title=Warning: Your boss is probably spying on you — and it could be bad for your health|url=https://thehill.com/opinion/technology/564668-warning-your-boss-is-probably-spying-on-you-and-it-could-be-bad-for-your|access-date=2021-12-22|website=[[The Hill (newspaper)|The Hill]]|language=en}}</ref><ref name=":1">{{Cite web|last=Cole|first=Samantha|date=2021-12-08|title=Workers Are Using 'Mouse Movers' So They Can Use the Bathroom in Peace|url=https://www.vice.com/en/article/mouse-mover-jiggler-app-keep-screen-on-active/|access-date=2021-12-22|website=[[Vice News|Vice]]|language=en}}</ref><ref name=":0a">{{Cite web|last1=Cyphers|first1=Bennett|last2=Gullo|first2=Karen|date=2020-06-30|title=Inside the Invasive, Secretive "Bossware" Tracking Workers|url=https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2020/06/inside-invasive-secretive-bossware-tracking-workers|access-date=2021-12-22|website=[[Electronic Frontier Foundation]]|language=en}}</ref><ref name=":2">{{Cite web|last=Klosowski|first=Thorin|date=2021-02-10|title=How Your Boss Can Use Your Remote-Work Tools to Spy on You|url=https://www.nytimes.com/wirecutter/blog/how-your-boss-can-spy-on-you/|access-date=2021-12-22|website=[[The New York Times]]|language=en-US}}</ref><ref name=":3">{{Cite web|last=Crispin|first=Jessa|date=2021-09-16|title=Employers are spying on us at home with 'tattleware'. It's time to track them instead|url=https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/sep/16/tattleware-employers-spying-working-home|access-date=2021-12-22|website=[[The Guardian]]|language=en}}</ref> Employee monitoring software has been called a form of [[spyware]].<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":3"/> During the [[COVID-19 pandemic]], the use of these systems by companies to monitor their employees increased.<ref name=":2">{{Cite web|last=Klosowski|first=Thorin|date=2021-02-10|title=How Your Boss Can Use Your Remote-Work Tools to Spy on You|url=https://www.nytimes.com/wirecutter/blog/how-your-boss-can-spy-on-you/|access-date=2021-12-22|website=[[The New York Times]]|language=en-US}}</ref><ref>[https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2022/apr/27/remote-work-software-home-surveillance-computer-monitoring-pandemic ‘Bossware is coming for almost every worker’: the software you might not realize is watching you] The Guardian. 2022.</ref>

== Criticism ==
The [[Electronic Frontier Foundation]] (EFF), which originated the term "bossware", has denounced employee monitoring software as a [[Right to privacy|violation of privacy]].<ref name=":0a"/><ref>{{Cite web |date=2021 |title=Warning: Bossware May Be Hazardous To Your Health |url=https://cdt.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/2021-07-29-Warning-Bossware-May-Be-Hazardous-To-Your-Health-Final.pdf |access-date=2024-05-15 |website=Center for Democracy & Technology}}</ref> The [[Center for Democracy and Technology]] (CDT) denounced bossware as a threat to the safety and health of employees.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Scherer|first=Matt|date=2021-09-16|title=Strategies to Tackle Bossware's Threats to the Health & Safety of Workers|url=https://cdt.org/insights/strategies-to-tackle-bosswares-threats-to-the-health-safety-of-workers/|access-date=2021-12-22|website=[[Center for Democracy and Technology]]|language=en-US}}</ref>

During the [[COVID-19 pandemic]], members of the [[r/antiwork]] [[Reddit|subreddit]] shared various [[mouse jiggler]] strategies to combat monitoring software intended to monitor the productivity of [[remote work]]ers.<ref name=":1" />

A study by Reports and Data predicts that the global market for employee remote monitoring software will hit $1.3 billion by 2027.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2021-10-13 |title=Workplace monitoring platform Aware takes in $60M |url=https://venturebeat.com/business/workplace-monitoring-platform-aware-takes-in-60m/ |access-date=2022-08-09 |website=VentureBeat |language=en-US}}</ref>

== See also ==
*{{annotated link|Computer surveillance}}
*{{annotated link|Computer surveillance in the workplace}}
*{{annotated link|Job satisfaction}}
*{{annotated link|Malware}}
*{{annotated link|Network monitoring}}
*{{annotated link|Spyware}}
*{{annotated link|Trojan horse (computing)|Trojan horse}}
*{{annotated link|User activity monitoring}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Employee Monitoring Software}}
[[Category:Business software]]
[[Category:Computer security software]]
[[Category:Computer surveillance]]
[[Category:Labor]]
[[Category:Spyware]]
[[Category:Deception]]
[[Category:Espionage devices]]
[[Category:Espionage techniques]]

Employee monitoring software - Revision history

imported>OAbot: Open access bot: url-access updated in citation with #oabot.