(Archived) Security features of Evernote

[walkinservice 0]

Dear fellow members

 

 

I've left my company not too long ago but had forgotten to log out of my Evernote account before surrendering my company's laptop. The Evernote application was installed as an app and would usually remain signed in for sometime unless I've decided to log out manually. I've only realized the above negligence few days after I've parted with my ex-company. I've exercised due diligence by logging in from my home laptop, exported the entire chuck of data from this account, imported to a new account and deleted all the folders in the old one. Having done the above, I am still not sure if the information was compromised (i.e. by my co. IT personnel who's in-charge of the laptop) during that few days gap prior to export of data. Can I find out if:

 

1) My data had been viewed by the IT dept (i.e. through synchronization as it would auto-sync so long as you're logged in)

2) My data had been exported by the IT dept without my consent.

 

 

Your assistance would be most helpful.

 

Cheers,

walkinservice

[GrumpyMonkey 4,320]

Dear fellow members

 

 

I've left my company not too long ago but had forgotten to log out of my Evernote account before surrendering my company's laptop. The Evernote application was installed as an app and would usually remain signed in for sometime unless I've decided to log out manually. I've only realized the above negligence few days after I've parted with my ex-company. I've exercised due diligence by logging in from my home laptop, exported the entire chuck of data from this account, imported to a new account and deleted all the folders in the old one. Having done the above, I am still not sure if the information was compromised (i.e. by my co. IT personnel who's in-charge of the laptop) during that few days gap prior to export of data. Can I find out if:

 

1) My data had been viewed by the IT dept (i.e. through synchronization as it would auto-sync so long as you're logged in)

2) My data had been exported by the IT dept without my consent.

 

 

Your assistance would be most helpful.

 

Cheers,

walkinservice

Hi. If they were connected to the Internet, and if they synced, then you can see if they accessed your account. Check www.evernote.com > Account Settings > Access History. Unfortunately, the location services are not specific enough to pinpoint the exact location, and if you live within the same city, it won't tell you much. You might, however, be able to figure out if there was access based on the times. There is no way to know what was viewed and/or exported.

More importantly, assuming you are working in the US, your employer can quite easily (and legally) view everything that you are doing at any time, so they may have been reading all along. Ask an IT person to show you how it is done, and you might be surprised at the level of surveillance that is possible. My advice at this point would be to assume that everything was seen, copied, and held by them (the worst case scenario, even if they didn't bother to open your Evernote account). I would do damage control (if possible) based on this assumption.

In the future, my recommendation would be to use your own device (this is what I do). With an encrypted local drive (easily done, esp. on the Mac) it is pretty unlikely that anyone (besides the NSA or some other state hacker spy) will see anything you do.

[walkinservice 0]

Thanks GrumpyMonkey

 

 

Your input helps a lot! However, would I still be able to view access history all the way till early March? Given this unique situation whereby I've emptied the old account some 4 months back, I've recently tried accessing it but bumped into some authentication issue whereby I'm asked to provide 5 uncommon words I've uploaded during recent login (the last was end-Feb). Fortunately, the imported data in the new account managed to shed some light to what I had last uploaded (in the old account) before I've had it exported out. Sadly, after multiple attempts - mindful of evernote's regulation on 'uncommon' - I still couldn't access the old account, least to access the accessed history.

 

Could you point me to a new direction?

 

 

Cheers,

walkinservice

[GrumpyMonkey 4,320]

Glad I could help. It looks like you stopped accessing the account at an unfortunate time. Evernote reset everyone's passwords in early March, and I am guessing that is part of the problem here. My advice at this point would be to contact customer support (see the link in my signature). Hopefully, they'll be able to get you back into the account.

[BurgersNFries 2,407]

Dear fellow members

 

 

I've left my company not too long ago but had forgotten to log out of my Evernote account before surrendering my company's laptop. The Evernote application was installed as an app and would usually remain signed in for sometime unless I've decided to log out manually. I've only realized the above negligence few days after I've parted with my ex-company. I've exercised due diligence by logging in from my home laptop, exported the entire chuck of data from this account, imported to a new account and deleted all the folders in the old one. Having done the above, I am still not sure if the information was compromised (i.e. by my co. IT personnel who's in-charge of the laptop) during that few days gap prior to export of data. Can I find out if:

 

1) My data had been viewed by the IT dept (i.e. through synchronization as it would auto-sync so long as you're logged in)

2) My data had been exported by the IT dept without my consent.

 

 

Your assistance would be most helpful.

 

Cheers,

walkinservice

 

Exported "without my consent"?  If you're using a company owned computer & storing personal information on there, I don't think you can call it accessed without your consent.  Having said all that, AFAIK, there is no way to know if any data was exported.

 

 

Thanks GrumpyMonkey

 

 

Your input helps a lot! However, would I still be able to view access history all the way till early March? Given this unique situation whereby I've emptied the old account some 4 months back, I've recently tried accessing it but bumped into some authentication issue whereby I'm asked to provide 5 uncommon words I've uploaded during recent login (the last was end-Feb). Fortunately, the imported data in the new account managed to shed some light to what I had last uploaded (in the old account) before I've had it exported out. Sadly, after multiple attempts - mindful of evernote's regulation on 'uncommon' - I still couldn't access the old account, least to access the accessed history.

 

Could you point me to a new direction?

 

 

Cheers,

walkinservice

 

If you're still not able to access the old account by either doing the reset password or after answering some questions, then you will need to submit a support ticket. See my sig.  They will need to confirm that is indeed your account before granting you access to it.  I'm sure you can understand that.

[walkinservice 0]

Thank you both!

 

 

BurgerNFries - You're not wrong in saying so since the laptop is the company's property, they have every right to access it they want to. I'm meant that in principle, the account is still mine and I have every right to maintain my privacy. I'll just have to be more careful in the future, but that's not the main issue now. It's more important to do some damage control even if damages had already been done.

 

I've tried the link to submit a ticket to the customer support, but to no avail due to the 5 uncommon words barrier. I guess I'll just have to use my new account to submit a ticket instead. That way they'll be able to verify the old account via the new account since I can verify that I'm the user to both accounts. Furthermore, I've done the exports which'll verify my authenticity as the rightful owner of both accounts. 

 

 

Nevertheless, a big thank you to the both of you. You guys were of great help. 

 

Thanks once again,

walkinservice

[GrumpyMonkey 4,320]

Glad to help. Let us know how it works out. If you have any problems, please post your support ticket number here, and we'll help get someone on the case to take a look at it, but you should be fine. Good luck going forward!

[BurgersNFries 2,407]

BurgerNFries - You're not wrong in saying so since the laptop is the company's property, they have every right to access it they want to. I'm meant that in principle, the account is still mine and I have every right to maintain my privacy. I'll just have to be more careful in the future,

Agreed. But in a nutshell, I think GM's original post is spot on.  There is essentially no way for you to know if your former employer has viewed any of your notes (even if they didn't sync, if the notes were on the Windows/Mac client on your laptop...they can view them w/o accessing the EN cloud), so you should assume the worst case scenario, if any damage control needs to be done.   And...not do this the next time around!