How To Spy on Internet Activity Through Wi-Fi
Whether you’re looking to improve productivity in the workplace or want to check your kid’s online activity, there are plenty of reasons to want to spy on someone’s internet activity. Between how technically challenging and dubiously legal it seems, it can be an intimidating thing to try. How can you spy on internet activity through Wi-Fi?
You can spy on internet activity through Wi-Fi using router logs and monitoring applications like Wolfeye Remote Screen. The logs are an easy way to see what websites people are visiting, while Wolfeye allows you to see what they’re doing online with screen recordings.
In this article, I’ll explain how you can use router logs and applications like Wolfeye Remote Screen to monitor your employees or children online. I’ll also address the most common concerns about Wi-Fi monitoring, including whether it’s legal.
1. Make Sure You Have Consent for Monitoring
To ensure that your monitoring is legal, you should gather the consent of any adults or minors you want to monitor. Generally, businesses and schools have employees, students, and any other network users who consent to be monitored when they agree to use the network or device.
If you’re monitoring your children, you don’t need their consent to watch what they’re doing online.
Is It Legal To Spy on Internet Activity Through Wi-Fi?
Spying on internet activity through Wi-Fi is legal if you have someone’s permission to do it. Employers are allowed to monitor the activity of their employees on company networks and devices, and it’s completely legal for parents to monitor their children.
It’s typical for employers to track the online activity of their employees. This allows them to resolve behavioral and security violations as soon as they arise and have records to refer to when addressing issues. For example, when a virus or spyware attacks the company’s network, the company will have all the information they need to fix things and protect confidential data.
In the case of employers, you generally consent to be monitored when you sign the electronic use policy forms when beginning a new job.
And when it comes to children, monitoring their internet activity is legal until they’re adults. Aside from checking their internet history, you can use applications like Wolfeye Remote Screen to see what they’re doing online. This is particularly helpful to ensure predators and bullies aren’t targeting them in games or social media.
However, it’s illegal to spy on an adult’s device without consent. You can face fines or jail time if you monitor another adult’s online activity without their consent.
2. Check Internet History or Router Logs
One of the simplest ways to spy on someone’s internet activity is to check their internet history directly. This technique isn’t foolproof, as most users know how to delete their internet history. However, it can provide helpful insights about what your child or employee is doing, and it’s easy to do.
- Open your browser’s search history tab. If you’re a Windows user, you can access the history tab through the browser’s settings page or press Ctrl+H while your web browser is open. If you’re using macOS, press Command+Shift+H after opening your browser. The internet history tab will appear.
- Use the search bar to find specific websites or keywords. If you notice unusual time gaps in the internet history, consider whether it may have been an idle period or if someone could have deleted the history.
Using your router to monitor what websites a person is visiting is also possible. This is an excellent technique because you don’t have to rely on the browser history, which most people know how to access and delete.
You can check the internet history from your router with a few simple steps.
- Find the default gateway IP in your internet router manual. Type the IP address into your web address bar and click enter. A router dashboard should appear.
- Sign in to the router dashboard using your admin credentials. You can find these credentials in your router manual or at the bottom of your router.
- Navigate to your router’s built-in monitoring settings. The settings may be accessible through options such as “log settings,” “Wi-Fi history,” or “activity history.” Refer to your router manual if you can’t find it.
3. Install Wolfeye Remote Screen for Full Surveillance
Unfortunately, internet history only offers little information when monitoring a family or business network, and you can easily delete a browser’s history. While router history can show you that someone was on social media, it doesn’t tell you what they were doing.
The best way to get all the information you need is to use a full-featured monitoring tool like Wolfeye Remote Screen.
You’ll need to install Wolfeye Remote Screen onto your computer to begin. The setup process includes making an exception for the application in your antivirus program. Many antiviruses are geared to detect spyware, which often makes them raise false flags for legitimate monitoring programs.
Luckily, resolving this issue and installing the application is simple.
- Create a folder in a directory of your choice. You must ensure that your chosen directory gives every user read/write access. A good place to put the program is under C:\Users\Public.
- Open your antivirus program and navigate to the “exclusions” settings. This may also be called “exceptions.”
- Select the folder you created in the first step as an exception. Your antivirus will now ignore the folder’s contents, ensuring the monitoring is completely discreet.
- Download the Wolfeye Remote Screen installation .ZIP file. Insert it in the folder you created during the first step. Unzip the file, using the password “wolfeye.”
- Double-click on the wolfeye-RS-3.0.exe file. When Windows prompts you, click to run the application anyways. The Wolfeye Remote Screen application will open.
- Click “Share Screen.” The button will turn red, and a new URL will appear above the buttons. This URL is where you can view the screen recordings.
- Click “Email URL” and enter your email address. The URL will be sent to your inbox, ensuring you can see what Wolfeye records from any device by accessing the private website.
- Click “Hide+Win Startup.” The Wolfeye application will be hidden from users and continue operating even when Windows is restarted.
Final Thoughts
As long as you have the proper know-how, monitoring internet activity through Wi-Fi is simple. Browsers and routers offer easy built-in methods to see what your employees or children are doing online. And when you combine these tools with an effective software like Wolfeye Remote Screen, you won’t have any issues trying to see exactly what people are doing on the web.
Sources
- Stack Exchange: Can my employer see my browsing history from my home?
- Money: Yes, Your Employer Knows Exactly What You’re Doing Online
- MyLawQuestions: Can my Employer Monitor Employee Internet Activity?
- Wispy: Is Monitoring Kids Illegal?
- Mobistealth: Is it illegal to spy on someone’s cell phone?
- Wolfeye: Employee Tracking
- FamiKeep: How to See What Websites Have Been Visited on My Wi-Fi?
- Computer Hope: How to View the Internet Browser’s History