Monitoring My Browsing History?

I'm on campus right now, and to get onto the wifi, you have to log in with your school ID. This is done through the Cisco NAC Agent; I looked the client up, and what isn't surprising is that I could see that this client is capable of "monitoring network traffic". I find this slightly concerning. I talked with someone in the IT department, and he claims that the IT department only looks at uploads and downloads, however, I didn't find the individual (who I had known prior to asking) very trustworthy.

While I may not know much about networking (yet), I found "monitoring network traffic" quite ambiguous. From some research I did, it appears that this can mean not only that they would be able to view uploads, downloads, streamed information, etc, etc, but also view information requests to the internet and the responses back. In essence, tracking my browsing history, if they're so inclined. This also means, to me, that they would also be able to view sensitive information, such as e-mail addresses, usernames, the name I used to log in to my online banking website, and scary enough the passwords as well. When I brought this concern up to said man in the IT department, he said that that connection is encrypted anyway. Though, looking at this person (who is a Biology Major) I could tell that he only knows what they tell him in employee training and could very well not now a RAM from a ROM, and this did little to ease my concerns.

So, my question is, can they see this login information? Clearly, the information must be passed along the wifi connection here, and therefore it seems logical to me that they could see it. I also feel somewhat uncomfortable with them seeing my browsing history as well... So, if they can see the sites I am visiting, is there a way to keep them from doing so? As well as, if they can see the information I send to login, would there be a solution for that too?

 

All I can say is welcome to the aftermath of 9/11/2001 and the NSA.

 

Could you be a little clearer as to what you mean? This isn't all that helpful, other than making a slightly amusing political statement about the state of network security in the United States.

I'm not that afraid to hear "It's their network, so you're going to have to play by their rules, and if they want to poke around in your browsing history, you have to sit back and let them."

Maybe I should be a bit more clear about the point on "security". I guess, more so, what I want to know is can they see my account names/passwords, or not. However, I assume by your comment you may not be able to answer any questions that I asked, but this part of my answer is more for anyone that wants to try answering.

 

I'd consider it wisest counsel to assume everything you do thru the campus system is monitored. In fact, I'd assume everything CAN be monitored from everywhere.

There is the Zebra Rule, remember. The few lions chase the herd, but only a few are ever taken down.

I think it was Abraham Lincoln that said, "There is obscurity in numbers. Now, let's hurry or we'll be late to the theater tonight."

 

True. It's probably best to assume the worst if you can't trust the people in the IT department that you ask.

My suspicions about proxies are likely correct in that they can only hide your IP, name, etc, from people outside the network, not other people on the network, or people that monitor it. Otherwise, you likely would have suggested it, amirite?

 

You've got to remember that WE trained the terrorist pilots that flew the planes into the twin towers and the Pentagon. The NSA is monitoring everything, internet, cell phone communications, etc. If there are restrictions or if certain sites are whitelisted, true, I don't know. But you can now believe that true privacy is a thing of the past. I woudn't doubt that the NSA is even monitoring Major Geeks Forums.