Downloading Encrypted Torrents At Work...

[v2030]

Will the guys in charge of the internet server/firewall/all that stuff at work be able to see what I am downloading if the torrent is encrypted? Will they even be able to see that I am downloading a torrent?

All comments appreciated

Cheers

V2030

[Lord Alderaan]

Will the guys in charge of the internet server/firewall/all that stuff at work be able to see what I am downloading if the torrent is encrypted?

Theoretically Yes but unlikely to happen in real life.

Will they even be able to see that I am downloading a torrent?

Probably Yes. Especially since BitTorrent has certain properties (long term high speed, lots of connection, etc, etc) that are fairly easy to discern from normal office internet usage.

However if they see you are downloading they probably won't have much trouble finding instances of utorrent or other BitTorrent clients on workstations and otherwise they might be able to find and recognize downloaded files. It is not recommended to use BitTorrent on a office or school network when you don't have permission.

Besides that encryption isn't really intended to fool anyone except automated throttling systems some ISPs employ and often even fails at that.

[v2030]

Thanks for the input...

I quite often have to download programms or large files from the internet as part of my daily work, would these look different to a torrent as they are only a single connection?

Would you go for it or not?

[Lord Alderaan]

Simply ask for permission. Doing internet stuff on work you don't have permission is never a smart thing. If it is work related I'm sure you can get permission. If it is personal then it depends on the working environment. If it is something you know they don't want then its just plain stupid. imho.