Are You Being Watched Over by Your Company Using WorkspaceONE Intelligent Hub?

In the age of smartphones and digital connectivity, the lines between our personal and professional lives have blurred. Many companies now encourage or even require their employees to use their personal mobile devices for work-related tasks. It's convenient, cost-effective, and promotes flexibility in today's fast-paced business world. However, the rise of bring-your-own-device (BYOD) policies and mobile working has given rise to concerns about privacy and security. One solution that businesses turn to for managing this mobile workforce is Workspace ONE Unified Endpoint Management (UEM), often accessed through the Intelligent Hub app. But what exactly can Workspace ONE UEM see on your mobile device, and should you be concerned about your personal data when using it for work-related tasks?

Workspace ONE UEM and the Intelligent Hub

WorkspaceONE UEM, formerly known as AirWatch, is an enterprise mobility management (EMM) platform developed by VMware. It's designed to help businesses manage and secure mobile devices, applications, and data. The Intelligent Hub is the user-facing app that allows employees to access company resources and manage work-related tasks on their mobile devices. It can be installed on various platforms, including Android and iOS.

Workspace ONE offers a range of features that benefit both businesses and employees. These features include secure application management, mobile device management, and data protection. However, with such power comes a natural concern about how much visibility and control a company has over the personal devices of its employees.

The Balancing Act: Security vs. Privacy

When you enroll your personal device in your company's Workspace ONE UEM program, you're essentially granting the organization certain rights to manage and secure the device. The level of control and visibility a company has over your device varies based on the policies and configurations set by your organization. This is where the balancing act between security and privacy comes into play.

Here are some key aspects to consider:

1. Compliance Policies:

Workspace ONE UEM allows organizations to set compliance policies for enrolled devices. These policies may include requirements for encryption, passcode complexity, and security updates. The company can ensure that your device complies with these policies, which is essential for protecting sensitive company data.

2. Application Management:

Employers can deploy, manage, and update enterprise apps on your device. They may also have the ability to whitelist or blacklist certain apps. This helps ensure that only approved apps are used for work-related tasks.

3. Remote Management:

In the event that your device is lost or stolen, Workspace ONE UEM allows your company's IT department to remotely lock or wipe the device to protect sensitive data. This feature is crucial for data security.

4. Device Information:

Your company can access device details, such as the model, operating system, serial number, and hardware specifications. This information helps with device inventory and management.

5. Content Distribution:

Employers can distribute and manage documents, files, or resources to your device, making it easier to access important work-related materials.

6. VPN Configuration:

Your company can configure and manage VPN connections on your device, ensuring secure access to the organization's network.

7. Network and Connectivity:

IT administrators can manage Wi-Fi profiles and network settings on your device, which is essential for ensuring secure connections.

8. Reporting and Analytics:

Workspace ONE UEM provides the ability to generate reports on device usage, security compliance, and other relevant metrics, which can help organizations track and improve their mobile management strategies.

Privacy Concerns and User Awareness

With this array of capabilities, it's natural to have concerns about privacy when enrolling your personal device in Workspace ONE UEM. However, it's essential to understand that organizations typically operate within the boundaries set by their mobile device management (MDM) policies and relevant regulations. They are also often committed to respecting your privacy while ensuring the security of company data.

To address these concerns and maintain a balance between security and privacy, here are some best practices and points to consider:

1. Clear Policies:

Employers should have clear BYOD policies in place. These policies should outline the extent of monitoring and control over personal devices and should be communicated to employees.

2. Consent:

Employees should be asked to give their explicit consent before enrolling their personal devices. This ensures that employees are aware of what is being monitored and controlled.

3. Separation of Work and Personal Data:

Workspace ONE UEM can often separate work-related data and applications from personal data on the device, preserving your privacy.

4. Remote Wipe Procedures:

Employers should establish clear procedures for remote device wipe and ensure they are only used when necessary, such as in the case of a lost or stolen device.

5. Limited Data Access:

Workspace ONE UEM can be configured to restrict access to specific device data, such as personal photos, contacts, or messages, depending on company policies.

6. Regular Auditing:

Companies should regularly audit and review their MDM policies to ensure they are in compliance with privacy regulations and respect user privacy.

7. Employee Education:

Employers should educate employees about the capabilities of Workspace ONE UEM and the importance of following security policies.

Conclusion

So, are you being watched over by your company using Workspace ONE UEM's Intelligent Hub? The answer is yes, but within certain boundaries. Employers have the ability to manage and secure devices to protect sensitive company data, but they are also committed to respecting employee privacy.

To ensure a fair and transparent balance between security and privacy, it's crucial for organizations to establish clear policies, seek employee consent, and educate their workforce about the capabilities of Workspace ONE UEM. This way, employees can enjoy the benefits of mobile working while trusting that their personal data remains private and secure.

Remember that the specifics of what an organization can see and control on your device will depend on your employer's policies and configurations. It's always a good practice to have an open dialogue with your employer about any privacy concerns you may have when enrolling your personal device in a company's mobile device management program.

Disclaimer:

The information provided in this blog is intended for general informational purposes only. It is not legal advice or a comprehensive guide to the specific features and functionalities of Workspace ONE Unified Endpoint Management (UEM) or the Intelligent Hub app.

The capabilities and policies related to WorkspaceONE UEM may vary from one organization to another. The level of control and visibility that an organization has over personal devices enrolled in their Workspace ONE UEM program depends on the specific policies and configurations set by the organization, as well as any applicable laws and regulations.

Readers should be aware that while Workspace ONE UEM is designed to help organizations manage and secure mobile devices, it should be used in accordance with applicable privacy regulations and with respect for user privacy. Employees are encouraged to consult with their employers and IT departments for detailed information about the specific policies and practices in place within their organizations.

The blog content is not a substitute for professional legal or IT advice. Any action taken based on the information provided in this blog is at the reader's own discretion and risk. As a author, I do not assume any responsibility for any consequences that may arise from the use or interpretation of this information. Readers are encouraged to seek guidance from relevant legal and IT professionals for their specific circumstances and concerns.

If you found this page while looking for a solution to a problem of your Xiaomi Phone getting switched off automatically while in Fastboot mode or While in Recovery Mode. You are absolutely at the right place.
Here is a basic and important info how to resolve this issue.

What is fastboot mode?

If you have not heard it before, in easy words fastboot mode is used for installing the ROM images (OS package files in other words). Usually, installing OS images is also called as Flashing.

For Flashing a mobile, "fastboot.bin" tool from Android is required. Flashing is capable of wiping the complete phones data as the new OS image will be written over the previous image data.

The Fastboot screen on usual Xiaomi phones look like:

You can switch to Fastboot mode by Pressing Power Key and Volume Down Key

What is Recovery mode?

You can switch to Recovery Mode by pressing Power Key and Volume Up key and leave the Power Key when you seen the MIUI logo on the screen.

Recovery Mode is used for Zip files from OEMs or Update the OS version or firmware version. You can also use for deleting Userdata or do a factory Reset of your phone.

Recovery does not use command line tool instead it itself can flash the files which can be kept in the phone memory (if phones memory has partition available) or file can be kept in external SD card.

Recovery Mode on Xiaomi phones :

So, coming back to our original problem. If device is keep on rebooting automatically if you are in recovery mode or fastboot mode. Major of the issues that occur is due to Power key. As explained earlier, we use Power key for performing switching the device to Recovery or Fastboot mdoe.

On a regular basis, we tend to use Power key more often then any other keys on your phone. The key press button keys have limited life shelf like any other electronic devices. After certain period of time they stop working as they are intended to do so. 

Do not want to bring in here the concept of planned obsolescence. But its good read if you want to understand more how consumers are being  forced to upgrade or buy new item. A good read here:

https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20160612-heres-the-truth-about-the-planned-obsolescence-of-tech

Again, coming back to our topic, if your device is continuously rebooting, say after around 10 to 14 seconds when in fastboot mode that means the power key on device is in pressed state thus sending a Reboot signal to the device. Same happens when your device is in Recovery Mode. Your phone reboots and you continue to worry if the problem is with OS.
While you struggle to find out what and where exactly the problem is, your battery might get drained out and then you are out of options now. With drained battery, you can neither check further nor you can reflash new OS.

I've been into this situation. My phone's battery was dead and if I connect the phone to PC or Power Charger, it would start charge and before the charging  could even initiates, the phone reboots again. That is more of a frustation over an ongoing frustation. Either you need to have another phone which can charge your phones battery or some external universal charger that can charge the battery.
After digging a lot, I found a way to charge the battery atleast. So that I could confirm that, problem is because of Power Button and not because of corrupted OS.

While trying to do all of this , I tried flashing a complete OS image using the Xiaomi flash and that deleted everything from my phone including OS, so phone was just rebooting in fastboot mode.

Word of caution, I will not be responsible for any data loss in case you follow the steps. Please proceed if you understand the consequences.

To start with, I am assuming you have fastboot.exe on your system. If not, please refer this: https://wiki.lineageos.org/adb_fastboot_guide

You need to goto device fastboot mode (as given in this screenshot )
And quickly need to flash the TWRP Recovery Image.
In my case - I renamed the file to recoveryb.img

The command to flash is:

fastboot flash recovery <path to recoveryb.img/recoveryb.img


The file size is around 14MB so it would be flashed quickly before your phone switches off or reboot.
Even if your battery is dead you can flash via fastboot.

You can search for Fastboot flash recovery image on XDA forum. Please do drop a comment if you are not able to fine the fastboot.zip file, I can find and share with you.

Alternately, you can double click and run the flash_recovery.bat file to flash the TWRP recovery image when phone is in Fastboot mode.
Once flashing is done,  you will start seeing the MIUI logo.
Now, Connect your phone to a charger and you can remove the battery and connect it back while holding Power key and volume up key.
This will take you to TWRP recovery screen (as device was flashed with TWRP recovery image)
Quickly at bottom of the screen press up or down to move to some other page in recovery screen.
It seems, for me Power button had no impact on Recovery screen and I was able to charge the phone to 100% in recovery mode.
You would notice that phone is charging at the top right , where battery percentage is append with "+" symbol

Let the phone charge completely to be on the safer side.
Meanwhile, you can download the complete OS for your phone from MIUI.com
and keep it in SDCARD

Once phone is completely charged or charge is greater than 80%. Keep the sdcard inside the phone.
Press the Power key and volume up key to go to TWRP recovery screen.
Click on Install button.
Select the SDCARD path where OS zip image is kept (remember flashing the complete image will make you loose your all data)

And select Yes to start the phone flashing.
Now your phone has a proper OS image which is supposed to boot properly.

But if phone continues to boot again and again from MIUI logo screen.
That confirms something is wrong with the power button of the device.

Go to nearest mobile repair shop and get the power button replaced.
He might argue that the issue is with OS or flashing but as you have done your homework, ask him to replace the button blindly. It just would cost you few bucks. There you go, you will have your phone working afterwards for sure.

Set Dark Theme on Chrome Mobile Application

One of the most used and famous browser everyone knows of is Google Chrome. The browser supports multiple platform like Windows, Mac, Android, iOS. The ease of use and quick webpage rendering and hundreds of useful extensions makes it highly used web browser.

Coming back to the topic, as of now Google has no roadmap to allow user to Set Dark Theme, so, here are few g33ktricks to allow you to set the Dark Theme OR set Night Mode on Android Chrome browser.

1. Set Dark Theme using Chrome Flag

1. Update the Chrome to the latest version from Play Store.
    Open PlayStore app - > Search Google Chrome -> Click on "Update" button

2. Open the Browser and type the URL – chrome://flags

Chrome Flags Page

3. Now Search for the term ‘Dark’.

4. Two options will be shown
Android web Contents Dark Mode
 and
Android UI dark mode.

5. Web Contents Dark Mode - This will make the content on the website dark
UI dark mode - This will make the Chrome UI dark leaving the content on the site unaffected.

6. Make your choice accordingly. Close the Google Chrome app and the Launch it again.

7. The Night Mode or Dark Theme will be set and the webpages will be having black background and white text.
You can reset this setting back by opening Chrome Settings and click on "Dark Mode" option.

2. Using Reader Mode

Reading mode shows the webpages like pages on the book providing ease of reading by removing Javascripts, ads etc.

Steps to enable Reader mode

1. Open Chrome app and Tap 3 dots on the Right-Top of the screen

2. Click on "Settings"

3. Search for "Accessibility" option and swithch-on the "Simplified" view.

4. Now Open any of  the web-page you like. Bottom of the screen will shown an option ‘Show Simplified View’. Click on it.

5. This will again show "Appearance" option again.

6. Simply increase the intensity of Dark in the given options.


You might like to read: How to Speed-up your Chrome Browser

Make your Mobile phone camera a Webcam

During this Corona virus Pandemic (Covid19), people have been asked to work for home and you will feel the need of having a webcam some or the other day. Teleconferencing gets easier when you see the other person face to face rather than having the voice converstation.
Not everyone has a laptop and not everyone has a Desktop PC with a Webcam. Now a days, not having a camera/webcamera is a big deal. Attending Zoom Calls,Skype Calls, Facebook Live streams and many other applications and website demands you to have a webcam.
When I say a webcam , its just a camera which can stream you over internet, hence the name 'web camera' aka webcam.

So, here I am going to tell you about a simple application that I have tried and tested to make your mobile phone as webcam and save money.
As I am talking about Skype video call, I think I should call this post of mine as "How to use Mobile phone as a webcam"


IP WEBCAM
This one is simple yet elegant application which you can install on your android phone from the Play Store.
IP Webcam turns your phone into a network camera with multiple viewing options. View your camera on any platform with VLC player or web browser. Stream video inside WiFi network without internet access.


Features include:
• Video can be uploaded directly to Dropbox, SFTP, FTP and Email using Filoader plugin
• Several web renderers to choose from: Flash, Javascript or built-in
• Video recording in WebM, MOV, MKV or MPEG4 (on Android 4.1+)
• Audio streaming in wav, opus and AAC (AAC requires Android 4.1+)
• Motion detection with sound trigger, Tasker integration.
• Date, time and battery level video overlay.
• Sensor data acquisition with online web graphing.
• Videochat support (video stream only for Windows and Linux via an universal MJPEG video streaming driver)
• Cloud push notifications on motion and sound, cloud recording for motion-triggered records, online video broadcasting powered by Ivideon.
• Extensive baby and pet monitor features: night vision, motion detection, sound detection.

Here is the link for IP WEBCAM. Install the app on your smartphone and Launch it.
There are plenty of things which are there in the mobile app, which you don't need to worry about.

Next Step is to Download the configuration software.
Download from https://ip-webcam.appspot.com/

After installing the PC app and launching it, below screen will be shown
Click on Auto Detect.



If everything works fine, the camera will be available in Windows software. If something is wrong, please check your firewall rules and your network by visiting your network camera in a web browser.

Try restarting your PC if it does not work.
After restart, launch any application
say Skype and you can then configure your skype with the IP Cam.
In Skype, Go to Tools - Options - Video Settings .
Here You need to choose, MJPEG Camera
And Baam!!! all done.

You can see your pretty cat over your PC by using your phone.

In the similar way, you can config any Streaming application . You just need to use MJPEG camera as a webcam source.

Another App I remember which you can use is, 

DroidCam. It also has mobile app and a PC connectivity software.