An employee surveillance company leaked more than 21 million screenshots online
With digital tools refinement, companies are enabling employees to accept an increasing level of surveillance and increasing risks. Now, the security of thousands of employees and their parents’ companies is at risk after employee monitoring applications leak real-time images of their computers.
On Thursday, Cybernews researchers reported that more than 21 million screenshots of WorkComposer, which works with more than 200,000 companies around the world, were found in an unsecured Amazon S3 bucket.
As part of its services, WorkComposer captures screenshots of employee computers every 3 to 5 minutes. Therefore, leaked images may include sensitive content such as internal communications, login information, and even personal information of employees, which may make them vulnerable to identity theft, scams, etc.
It is not clear how many companies or employees are affected by this leak. But according to the researchers, the images provide a study of “how workers can frame the field by field.” After discovering, Internet News also discovered a leak in network work with similar companies earlier this year and contacted WorkComposer, and has since obtained information. WorkComposer did not respond to Gizmodo’s request for comment.
In addition to screenshot monitoring, WorkComposer also provides services such as time (including monitoring rest) and web tracking. WorkComposer on its website, describes its vague dystopian goal as “help”[ing] People stop wasting their lives and accomplish what is important to them. “The statement is a bit ironic, not only because data leaks are probably the main distraction for most people, but because any surveillance you know is a distraction in itself.
There is a well documented documented on the harmful psychological and mental health effects of surveillance. This doesn’t magically change when it’s a third-party company surveillance employees. In 2023, the American Psychological Association reported that 56 digital surveillance workers felt nervous or stressed at work, rather than 40%. Consumer Advocacy Group Citizens also noted that monitoring employees can increase errors and force them to “focus on quantitative metrics of behavior” that are not necessary for people.
Workplace surveillance is nothing new anyway. However, the WorkComposer leak shows that as surveillance grows exponentially, the consequences will also expand due to new technologies. Unfortunately, the United States has little protection at the state or federal level. In most cases, each company can decide how many workers they want to monitor. However, it is hard to imagine a company that can fully demonstrate that it has almost completely removed the privacy and autonomy of companies like WorkComposer Brud.
