Make the screensaver an image of your antivirus in full-on alert mode
Because ultimately what’s the boss going to do? Sack you for not letting his kids play with a work computer? HR will be all over that like a tramp on chips.
I’m not sure that businesses on this scale have meaningful HR people! Nor am I convinced that the average customer of such businesses gives a shit until the virus or problem happens.
Try talking to your boss about it without framing it as "your kids did this". Don't even mention the kids. Tell him when you get to work and find your desk is disgusting, tell him if your work from the previous day was closed, anything that's directly affecting you and your working environment.
If you're complaining about his kids he'll get defensive. If you present it as a work issue you might have more luck finding a solution.
A lot of the suggestions in this thread are going to come across as petty to your boss, which is what matters if you want to keep working here, or leave with a good reference. Dangers of working in his house.
Not flushing, yellow they may be trying to conserve water and you should take this as a positive, brown they are dirty little shits. This would be pivotal for the approach to sorting the problem.
Make a big deal about finding snot on your desk and turds in the toilet and then sign off sick for the next week with some sort of infection, go to your doctor about the stress of it all.
Talk directly to your boss about the security implications, you could even waste a couple of days making a creative presentation in preparation... lock down the machine and offer to use an older machine until the problem is resolved.
Or
Just go talk to your boss about it, and use another machine being as it's not "your" device and I'm sure someone else wouldn't mind putting up with the detritus from the kids.
GDPR fines are the higher of €20 million or 4% of annual global turnover. Bearing in mind that it wouldn't be an accidental breach, as you and your boss know that people outside the business have unrestricted access to the data.
I'd be mentioning this to him and explaining that you're uncomfortable using the computer for work-related stuff until he can guarantee the security. The only way to do this is to either get you or his kids another computer.
FFS! Just tell your boss you'll not be in until he guarantees your work tools will not be disturbed when you're not there.
break it.
blame them.
Start looking for a new job or speak to your boss. He may get upset about it, but that’s even more reason to find another job, or he may fix the situation.
Unless this one pays more than the market rate, it sounds like a pain in the arse.
A bit passive-aggressive, but it might be worth investing in a bunch of cleaning products, antibacterial sprays and wipes, etc, and leaving them close to your work station. And use them regularly, with all of the detritus left by the brats in a bin for the boss to see.
Underclock the CPU or GPU and I'll make gaming rubbish for them. Hard to work out what's going on for them. Easy for you to switch on and off end of day.
You can also throttle the bandwidth for that machine. You can even do it per application so just throttle the speed on their game (fortnight I'm guessing). They'll never know.
Just two of hundreds of way you can hobble a machine without being detected. TBH i'd just delete a really key piece of work. The next morning ask innocently if anyone was on the machine the night before. The moment your boss is at risk of losing money is the moment he'll buy them their own PC.
fortnight I’m guessing
Fortnite FFS
If/when porn/viruses are found on the machine, you're going to be arguing with your boss as to whether it was you or his children who put it there.
Can you get close to the “office” after hours?
If so, plug a wireless mouse dongle into the machine, come back in the evening and randomly move the mouse about whilst they are playing.
Sceenshot the desktop, set as wallpaper and hide taskbars. Computer looks normal but no icons work
am I the first to suggest you send the boss and link to this thread? 🙂
In any professional situation 'the boss's kids' are a ****ing nightmare. (actually I'm not sure which is worse - the kids - or the boss's husband/wife being given a low grade job in the organisation - its like working under an opinionated CCTV camera.).
If you're in any sort of senior role and involve your children in anything work related other than social occasions then there are people having this exact kind of conversation about you.
The boss might be lovely, the kids might be lovely but mix them up with work / employee relations and it can be pretty toxic no matter how innocuous someone thinks that involvement is.
I used to work in public art galleries and museums and one of the things I had to do was organise kids workshops, clubs etc. The boss would sign his kids up for them all - apparently to 'help make up the numbers' even though everything we offered was over-subscribed. In any other situation they were probably nice enough kids but the entitlement of being the bosses kids just made them a surly, disruptive handful. I got fed up with having to apologise about them to staff and parents.
In the end, without telling him I'd made the decision, I just stopped organising them - filled the diary with other stuff and just told him there would be more workshops 'soon' if he asked.
Back in my childhood days my dad worked in teacher training. I didn't know until I went to his leaving do that many of the student teachers I'd had throughout my school years were his pupils. He distanced himself completely from anything that involved my school - he didn't get involved in assessments of those students, didn't visit the school during their placements, never mentioned or asked me about anyone. And by the same measure non of them knew I was his son. It wasn't til I was at the buffet with a dozen or so of my former teachers that it even occurred to me that there'd even be any likelihood of him having any involvement in my school.
I don't think you're being petty at all, what you describe would annoy the crap out of me. Not sure what you can do though as sounds like you've already tried the reasonable approach. I have to stop myself freaking out if someone touches the screen on any of my monitors (no really, I could see what you were pointing out without you having to leave a greasy finger-print there...)
Is there a company firewall you can use to block access to the gaming sites?
If not, then a good free one you can install locally on your Mac would be something like this - https://forticlient.com/downloads - which has web filtering based on categories such as business, social media, gaming, etc. Locked down they shouldn't be able to override it and download anything you don't like.
To me ( working in a totally different world where all computers are shared) the stuff about mucky keyboard and mouse and snotty nosed kids sounds very petty indeed.
However the IT security side of it is potentially very serious. YOu can stop them directly buggering up your work with different user accounts but if they get the machine infected with viruses / malware etc this is potentially serious
Can the computer be locked down to prevent any downloads that are not authorised by you ( I am also IT illiterate) Ie you have administrator tights, they have only user rights and only the admin can download anything ( our work computers are like this)
I think my tack with your boss would be to ignore the (nonsensical) germ issues - thats your issue but put in writing to your boss your fears over IT security which to me is a real issue with potentially very serious consequences.
Can you access the WiFi network settings and disable your machine out of hours?
Change the password for their account. It'll confuse them enough to force them to use a different machine. Or just remove all their games and take away admin access. (hoping they don't have admin access already).
Can the computer be locked down to prevent any downloads that are not authorised by you ( I am also IT illiterate)
Yes, In the account setting in system preferences just untick 'Allow user administrate this computer'
Though if they know Macs well, and File Vault has not been enabled they might know how to reset the password without knowing it:
Restart the Mac holding 'Command + R'
Open Terminal from the Utilities menu.
Type 'reset password'
Select the desired account and type in your new password
However the IT security side of it is potentially very serious.
It is. We have annual IT training which uses giving your work computer to your kids to play on as a specific example of risk and malpractice. Your boss needs IT security training.
Buy a Russian keyboard for night-time activities.
They are installing apps in their own sandbox? Surely you can set up their account with limited privileges at the least - and start to lock down those accounts.
Would drive me mad.
Am I the only person thinking of TJ in his "administrator tights"
Letting seven year olds (did I get that right) loose on crucial office kit with the attendant security and financial risk is complete looney tunes. What other shenanigans are going on with the company stuff?
Best of luck getting it sorted, but I can't help feeling that if your boss is this complacent about the priciest bit of desktop kit in the room then you have a bit of a mountain to climb.
I'd be getting the CV polished up and looking around for somewhere else more professional.
If you can touch type and the bosses kids can't...
Thanks for all the responses. Essentially the problem is that my boss has allowed the kids to do this and the first and only time I have publically
made any noise about this in front of him he told me I should be closing my tabs and shutting the machine down anyway, which was totally not the point. I mentioned security, we even had some suspicious internal finance request emails that looked legit but had tiny mistakes and links to phishing sites a few months ago, and he has clearly not taken it on board.
I set up the separate kids user account as a means to at least keep them away from my projects, and their user profile is limited, but of course their dad has logged into the admin user account and enabled their web access and authorised their game apps etc.
We’ve got a good relationship but I can’t afford to be seen to be making waves and I don’t want to tackle this issue myself. I’ve mentioned it to the HR guy but this is a 6 person team and he’s got the same eggshells. Plus he’s currently trying to brown nose the boss. Politics
Help!
Why does your boss know your password? Change it.
Do your research, plan your car and take it to him as a friend. You don't have to be stabbing him in the back, just be open about it. It's poor IT practice, it's dangerous and against the principles of good governance.
Imagine how he'd feel if he knew that your suppliers had lax security policies regarding your data? Did you sign a usage policy document? Do you have one? If not, how would your clients feel about the fact that there are kids with admin privileges on the machines that with their data! Do you do due diligence with your clients? Imagine having to tell them that kids have admin access to your machines!
The more I hear the more outrageous I think this is. Its pretty much a resign on principle matter if the boss will not protect the IT security. If and it seems possible to this Luddite the kids do something that compromises the projects you are working on how will that reflect on you?
Back up all your work to an off box location then write a script to erase the contents of the SSD and set it to trigger at a time you can be sure that the brat is using the computer.
Next morning you cannot work and need to fix the Mac but no long term damage. Kid is blamed and banned from work machines.
If too drstic search for pranking Mac users - lots of suggestions that could stop the brats causing mischief. Setting a timed script to invert screen colours might work.
Enable FileVault with a 15 character or more password known only to you. When boss grizzles tell him you are protecting his financial position from harm. As above GDPR and PCI penalties are swinging (PCI if relevant starts at £10k per set of card details leaked).
I'd already be looking for a job elsewhere. Already sounds like he doesn't take your opinion/concerns for the situation seriously, which makes him a bit of a cockwomble. I'd be worried about what else hes being so lax about.
There's no way the boss will let him have a secret, only know to him password. If he up's and leaves, falls ill or similar the computer, and any work on it is completely inaccessible.
There’s no way the boss will let him have a secret, only know to him password. If he up’s and leaves, falls ill or similar the computer, and any work on it is completely inaccessible.
I am *required* to have a secret, only known to me, password. Further, it must have a sufficient level of complexity.
he told me I should be closing my tabs and shutting the machine down anyway,
like I say... you only need to leave one tab open 🙂
There’s no way the boss will let him have a secret, only know to him password. If he up’s and leaves, falls ill or similar the computer, and any work on it is completely inaccessible.
Look at my posting history to discover what can happen if you don't have a known only to you password. Brief synopsis - Mrs C had a mare when her line manager and company director logged on as her whilst she was on holiday using her password she was forced to share and caused a very large data breach. In a small industry where everyone knows everyone within a reasonable geographical radius and with a MD and director refusing to publically take the blame it nearly ended my wife's career and has taken a couple of years to restore her reputation. Even now there are business associates that went cold and she suspects that's the reason. She ended up leaving the business as the working environment became so toxic. She should really have gone legal but didn't have the stomach for it. Fortunately she is now happier in a much better firm doing work she far prefers paid significantly more so it ended well and was the nudge from a crap situation she probably needed.
Long and the short of it, employees should not be forced to share their passwords. In small companies without IT support I'd imagine it must be harder to sort and still have access to files if the worst happened but there must be a way to not give day to day access to anyone but the specific employee.
Why are people thinking Frosty has shared his password? he said "their dad has logged into the admin user account"... the ADMIN account. Maybe the boss knows the password for this and Frosty doesn't! Frosty's account can have admin rights still.
IIRC someone on here was sacked years ago from a big company because his kids downloaded innocent stuff on his works laptop
@DezB - You’re spot on. I know the password for the machine, but it is not MY password, it is just the password for that machine.
A few people have suggested I simply change the kids privacy settings and change the password etc. This is such a direct move,it would only be seen as passive aggressive and wouldn’t go down well.
You’re spot on. I know the password for the machine, but it is not MY password, it is just the password for that machine.
Wow world of bad there!! Probably should have been an early alarm bell there!!
This is such a direct move,it would only be seen as passive aggressive and wouldn’t go down well.
Hmm I assume this means you still want to work there?
It isn't your machine but I would get my own keyboard and mouse to use - I assume that it is USB connected - just swap them in and out when not in the office, stick them in a locked draw.
Stop stressing about it - different account, different keyboard and mouse and get some anti-bacterial wipes on expenses if they leave a mess.
YOu have to tell the boss in no uncertain terms this is not acceptable because of the potential damage to the company if the kids download something nasty onto the computer. ( forget the snot issue) ~Emphasise the security issues
Depending on his response to that for me would depend on whether I resign or not.
IIRC someone on here was sacked years ago from a big company because his kids downloaded innocent stuff on his works laptop
yes, maybe get an email or something with the bosses say so that they can use the machine.
If they are using a different account then any dodgy downloads should be traceable.
You’re spot on. I know the password for the machine, but it is not MY password, it is just the password for that machine.
you shouldn't be using a shared account for reasons of traceability and accountability.
It isn’t your machine but I would get my own keyboard and mouse to use – I assume that it is USB connected – just swap them in and out when not in the office, stick them in a locked draw.
Cyrillic keyboard? Hebrew? Just swap a few keys around?
