In reply to a post by amiga_dude:

They can set up browser so can view all traffic even if encripted (HTTPS TLS/SSL).

Not often in UK/Europe unless staff are told and asked to sign/agree terms. If staff are using their own computer then hard to do.

Solution to all of this is to use your own VPN !

In reply to a post by amiga_dude:
They can set up browser so can view all traffic even if encripted (HTTPS TLS/SSL).

Not often in UK/Europe unless staff are told and asked to sign/agree terms. If staff are using their own computer then hard to do.

But idea must be in formal (employment) contract is incorrect. If there notice page when you sign in to network (T&C) that would do. Also they could be legitamite reasion why business decideds to do snooping without inform you/consent, ie industrial espionage/crime protection. But business that really need to worry about things like industrial espionage most likely have it in part of employment contract(s).

In reply to a post by jchamier:

Solution to all of this is to use your own VPN !

Now for VPN. It will not help you, if the browser had been set up correctly it will now not work outside business network "Thompson Construction". As the browser would be set only allow there own Certificate Authority (ie "Thompson Construction") to work.
If not website own key isn't sign by the business own Certificate Authority of "Thompson Construction" then it would not allow to view the page.
Another way of explane it is by using own VPN connection there is nothing to be able to sign for website using Certificate Authority of "Thompson Construction". As such every webpage is now blocked. Just because your using VPN that is not being controlled by "Thompson Construction".

(I am NOT a legal expert)

Don't forget the point Pheasant raised. The whole opening post is an "example" scenario. In my initial reading of it I forgot the first three words once I got to trying to work out how it was configured. The whole thing seemed very off to me at the time, with my idea of serviced offices being the only possibility I came up with.

The more I think about it the less sense it all makes. 150 offices, 30 per floor, with a router on each floor, all from the same ISP. Really? Is that one connection or five connections, and who is the "customer"?

For them all to be the same ISP then the manager of the building has to be the customer. Otherwise the probability of the scenario is incredibly low. I think Pheasant asked the right questions at Thu 29-Jul-21 06:59:10.

Edited by pluralist (Thu 29-Jul-21 13:05:13)

It does sound like the real world example of this would be a building that rents out space to various businesses or individuals and as part of that rental provides Internet access (there are I think a number of examples of this these days).

In that case the building management would be responsible for the Internet connection and could put any level of management on the link that would give them information about what is being done. They may even block VPNs or use proxy servers that do full logging of all access including SSL inspection. Or they might just provide a free for all Internet link.

Whoever has the ISP contract would have legal responsibility for everything that is done over it and if providing it to so many 3rd parties they most likely would need a fair amount of logging in order that if something illegal occurred they could provide information to the authorities as to who was the perpetrator.

So, whilst the ISP wouldn't see the detail of what is happening on the internal network it is highly likely that the building management would be able to and indeed would hand over that information on presentation of a court order or other legal means of request.

EDITED: To correct a stray "un" as identified by Pluralist.

Edited by ian72 (Thu 29-Jul-21 14:27:46)

Regus used to offer something like this years ago to their office tenants but it was £££ for what bandwidths were on offer. We used to sort out our own connections, which they grumbled about (as they obv. want to tie you into as many revenue generating schemes as they can) but ultimately let us do as we pleased.

In reply to a post by ian72:

So, whilst the ISP wouldn't see the detail of what is happening on the internal network it is highly unlikely that the building management would be able to and indeed would hand over that information on presentation of a court order or other legal means of request.

I think you mean "... it is highly likely that the building management would be able to ..."?

In reply to a post by pluralist:

Who do you pay for your broadband?

The question, seeing as the OP was hypothetical, should have been "who would be paying the ISP?"

The reason I asked being to clarify that the building management would be the LAN service provider, not just the infrastructure hardware provider.

Edited by pluralist (Thu 29-Jul-21 14:07:10)

You are right, I did indeed, will edit it to correct.

That's exactly what I was thinking.
My company used to be in serviced offices and there was a single connection shared by every company in the building.
Each company would run their own router and Wi-Fi and then the WAN side of their router would connect to the building managements router with each company having their own separate VLAN

Thanks
Dan

In reply to a post by pluralist:

The more I think about it the less sense it all makes. 150 offices, 30 per floor, with a router on each floor, all from the same ISP. Really? Is that one connection or five connections, and who is the "customer"?

For them all to be the same ISP then the manager of the building has to be the customer. Otherwise the probability of the scenario is incredibly low. I think Pheasant asked the right questions at Thu 29-Jul-21 06:59:10.

One of my customers rents a unit, part of the set up is a connection through the landlords internet connection, I'm not sure of the full terms, but I know there are about a dozen units all connected up the same, they have what appears to be a standard ethernet cable coming in to unit and they plug in their own router, and have no separate ISP account, I know this as I gave them one of my spare TalkTalk routers as the Netgear one they where using was rubbish.