What’s up with all the emails about keyboard and mouse manipulations? Is this the next fear tactic?
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Windows support for a second mouse device allowed an extra optical mouse to rest over the clear plastic cover of an analog clock. As the sweep second hand passed, that spare mouse perceived itself as moved by a few pixels. My cost was the initial clock's $6 cost and one AAA battery every two years. I prefer the spinny ball type for regular use.
Mine was one of many human adaptations to a 2010 workplace policy change in our "Inactivity Timeout" setting. The shop's new draconian value locked an active employee's PC in mistaken belief the device was unattended. Having your workstation lock while on the phone with a customer was not helpful.
I join in universal agreement that inactivity CAN mean the operator has abandoned the workstation and therefore created a security exposure easily remedied by automation of the lock task, but believe it's shortsighted to merely INFER by lack of user inputs that the worker is not present. Yes, it's a trivial task to collect lockout events and issue a report.
I think lazy engineering happened. Analysts were seduced by readily available system captured internal records they could repurpose for other tasks. There is a lure to no-cost convenience. .. making the boss happy on the cheap.
Management has to overlook productivity losses of this cheap design either by acknowledging or discounting side effects OR by pretending they weren't informed. Clever engineers just omit measurement of any harm/impact. Where I worked, it was critical there be no capture of how many times a Time-Out enforced workstation event was quickly followed by device login although equally convenient data was available to produce this unflattering measurement.
A cheap motion detector better answers the original goal of security. R U there? is, after all, the question. I don't find in the article or comments a claim of inspection of what keystrokes/mouse movement occur.
Now if workstations had a camera to see if an employee was actually there... that would be more accurate to the stated purpose of this monitoring scheme . Different can of worms.
I had a colleague mention someone was caught using a mouse mover. I didn't press for more details but it definitely sounds like they not only have the capability to detect mouse movement (he mentioned something like a thousand clicks per x-x something) but they are watching for that.
We all know its just another way they can get rid of people - the more folks they can fire w/out severance or more they can drive away the better their attrition plan.
@1ugh Which one is it? Are ppl being flagged and warned or being fired for cause? Sounds like BS even though I know we can find them.
Fear tactic plus they have software to track it. However Ive been using a mouse jiggler since 2019. Never got any manager calling me out on this. So be careful.
Agree with @1msb, and there’s no rule I have to be signed on to Teams. Heck, even when I’m out of office, bone-heads still IM me like I’m there. Clearly the status means nothing.
I haven’t seen any email about keyboards. What group is OP in???
Don't need a jiggler, Shart said I should be chatting by the water cooler all day, and I will be. Eat S Hudson Yards.
It is true: there is now software that catches likely instances of mouse jiggled usage. It’s probably not enough in and of itself to get you disciplined but could draw unwanted attention to you.
Not possible. I attached an antenna to a squirrel in my backyard which transmits its movement to my mouse which mirrors its movements onto my screen. Every time it poops, the mouse right clicks.
@ccx+1rtYPN6F BS!
@ccx+1rtYPN6F Such BS…..but nice try..,
Troll much?
Yes. Any mouse manipulation is considered an attempt at work time deception//theft.
Use of mouse jigglers, etc. -- even if not plugged into laptop -- are grounds for termination (i.e., no severance, and possibly no unemployment insurance).
Nite: They are all detectable by their pattern of movement and/or always on status.
Can you elaborate? I haven’t seen any.