Hi all,
If I was to connect my work laptop to my personal phone’s hotspot, where my work laptop requires a VPN connection, what all will my work be able to see on my phone? Will there be no access to items on my personal phone? Or will my work be able to see what I search/browse while my work laptop is connected to my personal phone?
Thanks!
Work can only see laptop. Laptop is connecting to the signal your phone is broadcasting. Only way it may be possible as far as I know is if you were doing something like a USB tether connection instead of wireless. The only thing my IT department can see outside the laptop is what ISP you are connected to.
Your work will be able to see all you do while on their VPN, although the data is encrypted, it is not invisible to their VPN service provider.
Your work will not be able to see what’s on your phone.
When you want to browse non-work related sites, use your personal phone.
Your company won’t see anything about your phone other than its public IP address. That public IP address would disclose what carrier you are with. But they can’t see anything else you do with your phone because that traffic is not sent to your company. Only the traffic coming from the laptop via the VPN connect goes to them.
It’s perfectly safe to use your phone as a hotspot with a company laptop, unless your company explicitly tells you others (some companies that work with sensitive data don’t like employees using WiFi at all, because of the risk of wireless eavesdropping).