Can my employer see where I am working from without VPN?

Can my employer see my browsing history when I m not on their network?

Can my employer see my browsing history when I'm not on their network?

If so, is this illegal? No. Your employer has no right to look at your browsing history when you are not connected to their network. They cannot monitor your activity as it happens, and they do not get a pass because you happen to be using their connection at that moment.

No, not without a warrant. (It can be argued that their network monitoring activities fall under the warrant).

You may have a problem if your employer's monitoring of your browsing/usage history falls into the category of "observation" and not "collection". This can get a little fuzzy, so I'd suggest consulting an attorney to find out what exactly is going on in your workplace.

Can my employer see where I am working from without VPN?

We recently started using VPN with our client-facing company laptop and while this has been a good way to do work without being connected, I am worried about the impact on our work IP address.

Is it possible for them to see who is logged into the VPN? Can they see an Internet Explorer from the VPN network? Would they be able to know if I was working from home, or at a coffee shop? Can this information be seen through any kind of inspection that a hacker could do? What should we do about this privacy/security-related issue? Do companies even care about this? I did some research and there seems to be conflicting answers as far as the legality goes. Should I continue to have the VPN be on my personal laptop or should I switch back to the normal (shared) network or do nothing? The main use for the VPN would be on a client basis to avoid an open WiFi at work and to give people the capability to remotely control work PC's from home.

Re: ? Hello. Sorry for what might be some confusion in this. You mention Microsoft SQL Server 2025, so you run Windows, so I'll assume that you don't intend to access data stored in other SQL Server DBs and servers that are outside the same subnet. If you've correctly configured your SQL Server to allow access via your internal address, but not via "the world" IP addresses, then anyone connecting from outside shouldn't be able to connect to the instance running under the subnet on which you reside, and therefore shouldn't be able to see any other instances of SQL Server. However, you may not have configured the firewall on your WAN interface correctly to block incoming connections from those locations, or may have inadvertently left an open port through which they can connect. Assuming the port is closed, there will be no immediate problem, but they could attempt to discover its exact configuration by attacking the protocol stack as you describe. The only defense against that is to lock the port down or, better yet, configure it to operate at an address which is more private. There's no need for a firewall there.

Thanks @nibbles.

Can my employer track my activity if I am not connected to their VPN?

I run a VPN and it has worked great for my computer at home and for several companies I've done remote work for.

My VPN, however, is currently "on loan" from my current employer while I search for a new job in the same industry. They are requesting that I connect their VPN on the new job's remote computers if I have been hired. Is this OK?
I have searched for some kind official answer (so far I've only found legal concerns) but have not found anything of interest. My opinion as a lawyer - unless you were told otherwise or the company says that they have a right to do so, you probably do not have to use the VPN. You are still an employee even if you no longer work at the location where you set up the VPN. If you want to keep the same privacy as if you worked from home, simply disconnect your network cable from the old place and leave it disconnected at home. It's much easier, saves time, and most importantly - not only is the company not doing anything bad, it's probably a legal requirement (that you do not have to accept).

Note that in Europe you have the stronger "right to be forgotten", so even if you weren't technically on the company's property and the company could not force you to use the VPN, it would better for privacy to just unplug it when you go home. Note also that there are more privacy options that I have suggested here. See Is there any evidence that VPNs are safe? for how privacy settings on your internet browser will affect the privacy you receive.