With the refinement of digital tools, companies are subjecting their employees to increasing levels of surveillance — and increasing risks. Now, the security of thousands of employees and their parents companies is at risk after real-time images of their computers were leaked by an employee surveillance app.
On Thursday, researchers at Cybernews reported that over 21 million screenshots from WorkComposer, which works with over 200,000 companies worldwide, were discovered in an unsecured Amazon S3 bucket.
As part of its services, WorkComposer captures screenshots of an employee’s computer every 3 to 5 minutes. So, the leaked images potentially include sensitive content like internal communications, login information, and even an employee’s personal information that could leave them vulnerable to identity theft, scams, and more.
It’s unknown exactly how many companies or employees were impacted by this leak. But according to researchers, these images offer a look into “how workers go about their day frame-by-frame.” Following its discovery, Cybernews, who also uncovered a leak by similar company WebWork earlier this year, contacted WorkComposer, who secured the information. WorkComposer did not respond to Gizmodo’s request for comment.
Although the images are no longer public, WorkComposer’s leak highlights that companies “shouldn’t be trusted with this kind of data on their workers,” José Martinez, a Senior Grassroots Advocacy Organizer at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, told Gizmodo via email.
“If a worker committed the kind of incompetence that WorkComposer did, this data might be used to fire them,” Martinez continued. “WorkComposer, too, should be out of a job.”
In addition to screenshot monitoring, WorkComposer offers services like time (including monitoring breaks) and web tracking. On its website, WorkComposer describes its vaguely dystopian goal as “help[ing] people stop wasting their lives on distractions and finish what is important to them instead.” The statement is a bit ironic. Not just because a data leak is probably a major distraction to most people, but because any surveillance that you’re aware of is in and of itself a distraction.
Surveillance’s detrimental psychological and mental health impacts are well-documented. That doesn’t magically change when it’s third-party companies monitoring employees. In 2023, the American Psychological Association reported that 56 percents of digitally surveilled workers feel tense or stressed at work compared to 40 percent of those who aren’t. Consumer advocacy group Public Citizen also noted that surveilling employees may increase mistakes and force them to “focus on quantified behavioral metrics” that aren’t necessary for people to do their jobs.
Workplace surveillance isn’t new by any means. However, WorkComposer’s leak demonstrates that as surveillance exponentially expands thanks to new technology, so do its consequences. Unfortunately, the United States offers very little protection at a state or federal level. For the most part, it’s up to each company to decide how much it wants to surveil workers. But it’s hard to imagine that a company can adequately justify the near-total removal of privacy and autonomy that companies like WorkComposer bring.
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