I was connected to the uni’s wifi, which I access with my institutional account, on my personal laptop. If using the app Notion - accessed with my personal gmail account - and writing on it, what can they see? do they have access to what I’m writing? Do they just see I’m using it?
Thank you!
A few question if you have the time:
the laptop is mine. I bought it and it had nothing to do with uni, but during covid they gave us free Microsoft Office access through our univeristy’s email, and on this laptop I have logged to two accounts: my personal one, which is the first one that appears on start > settings > account. If I scroll down to School and work accounts, I have a microsoft account with my univeristy email and password. So I have added that as a microsoft account. And they are both connected. I don’t know how to check what they have access to etc.
about notion: How do I know how I’m navigating it (https etc)? Does it depend on the app (I was on the app installed on my laptop) or what? Is there a way to check now? I sent Notion Support an email but don’t know if they can help or if it depends on me
also let’s assume I have given them access to my device in some way. If I format my laptop, would it be safe? Worried about my phone too cause I’m getting paranoid now haha
Microsoft Office applications are unlikely to give them any of this kind of access. The most they would have is the ability to see the location and IP you sign into the app on, like if you visit London and sign into Microsoft Word there, they may be able to see that location and the IP you were given on the network there. Unless you got this from Microsoft who has built the app, then that’s a different story since they have much greater control over the software than your uni would.
The programs you most are worried about would be things like antivirus or VPN apps that have the ability and known history of tracking and logging events on the machine it’s connected to.
To determine the exact ports you’re using, such as in this app, one of the best ways I’m aware of is to have another deceive on the same network and have a program that listens/sniffs web traffic and then filter just for the device you are using to see what protocols are being used at a given time you’re aware. Time consuming and a bit of a learning curve to know what everything means and what you’re doing, but it works for this purpose.
As for your last reply about formatting the device…you can delete everything and this usually removes any spyware, but not always foolproof. In some rare cases, malware has been installed to the BIOS firmware, then no formatting of the Windows OS, for example, would fix this. Also, if something like Microsoft Intune was installed to the device, it’s possible that they can bring the computer back up from a restore or they have already backed up everything and can view it at their leisure. But in most cases, formatting is a good way to conceal yourself from prying eyes if you believe you may be compromised.
Notion syncs using https. It’s safe to say that as long as you haven’t specifically installed weird apps (notion is not a weird app) nothing going on on your PC is visible to anyone else.
This is of course, not true of enterprise and school devices, which usually have very powerful antivirus solutions installed that allow the work/school to see whatever you do (though they mostly don’t care, as long as you aren’t causing trouble on the network or doing things that might get them sued)