Newbie question on network monitoring

[N'bdy]

This may seem like a dumb question but...

I live in an apartment complex that provides free internet. Apparently several people have had their internet disabled for short periods of time because of torrent use. When I asked the manager about this, he said that they do indeed monitor their network for torrent downloading using what he describes as a "special laptop".

The complex is fairly large (200 residents or more) and I connect through an Ethernet port from my wall that is apparently fed through a receiver in each individual building. The source is a tower located just outside the main office.

I have a couple questions about this.
First: what is he describing? is there any kind of monitoring hardware/software that uses a "special laptop" to track bandwidth and file sharing?
Also, what kind of security concerns should I have? I'm OK with staying away from torrents, but how much private information can someone gain access to with this kind of setup.

Again, I'm sorry if this is a dumb question and I thank you in advance.

 

[Lexluethar]

Not a dumb question at all.

I don't know of a special laptop - more than likely they have a laptop in their office that has the software that monitors the network. There are multiple ways of monitoring the network traffic with all sorts of programs out there to do it. Obviously all of your network traffic isn't going straight through his laptop, so more than likely the laptop is just patched into a master switch or hub and is monitoring the traffic on it.

As for security, i would treat it just like any other shared network location. You are sharing the same connection with 200 people, so just like if you were at a coffee shop or other location with free internet other people could be monitoring your network traffic. You also have to think while there are 200 residence more people than that probably get onto the network (friends).

For day to day things you'll be fine, but I would definitely be careful of what you do.

 

[GrahamFX]

firefoc

I believe firefox has a secure browser mode. You can try that to see if that will help bypass any onlookers.

 

[N'bdy]

Thank you for your responses so far.

Not a dumb question at all.

I don't know of a special laptop - more than likely they have a laptop in their office that has the software that monitors the network. There are multiple ways of monitoring the network traffic with all sorts of programs out there to do it. Obviously all of your network traffic isn't going straight through his laptop, so more than likely the laptop is just patched into a master switch or hub and is monitoring the traffic on it.

Hmmm...
How exactly do they monitor for this kind of thing? It would seem like anything that allowed them to specifically identify torrent use would also mean that they can view almost anything that I do over an internet connection. Could the tech monitor emails and things like it? Is that kind of thing even legal?

As for security, i would treat it just like any other shared network location. You are sharing the same connection with 200 people, so just like if you were at a coffee shop or other location with free internet other people could be monitoring your network traffic. You also have to think while there are 200 residence more people than that probably get onto the network (friends).

For day to day things you'll be fine, but I would definitely be careful of what you do.

I was afraid of that. I'm sorry to say that I do a fair amount of business from home and I had no idea that this kind of setup was so insecure. I really just thought it was setup like a personal broadband account, for some reason. Live and learn I guess.

I believe firefox has a secure browser mode. You can try that to see if that will help bypass any onlookers.

Thanks, that will at least alleviate some of my paranoia about some college kid in the front office looking over my shoulder while I browse the internet. Unfortunately, that seems like it might be the least of my concerns.

 

[Lexluethar]

They can do whatever they want - its their internet connection. Yes you are paying for it in some way but the account is under their name. They are responsible for it. I know it sounds stupid but they monitor it because they are responsible for it. If they get sued for torrenting they are the ones that will get sued, if someone hacks into the government they are responsible because its their account. There are tons of ways to monitor traffic - google Microsoft Network Monitor, put the software in p-mode and you can see any packet on that subnet yourself.

If you are doing business you should have your own account - a lot of apartments won't allow you to do business while living there for reasons like this.

If you are using a VPN or other form of security your information should be safe. If you are using HTTPS or VPN they can see the packets but the packets are encrypted so they can't read the content. That is why when doing banking or important stuff online you should always be using HTTPS or some type of VPN or certificate system to keep your data secure.