Can someone track searches over a large wireless network?

Question

Is it possible for things that I search to be tracked through a large wireless network (ie. a school network with a username and password for)? And how detailed can they get with these searches? Can they tell what you search, time, and location of the search?

I'm not very good at technology or have a very good understanding of these things, if you can answer in simple words, it's much appreciated!

Answer 1

The answer to this depends on a number of factors. If the device you are searching from is compromised/owned by the school, or if the school is forcing you through a proxy and/or if they have put a root certificate on your device then it is possible they can tell exactly what you are searching for, when, the results you got and what you did next.

If the device belongs to you and has not been compromised as above, it is possible for the adverse party to see searches which have been made unencrypted - including when.

That said, if you are using Google for searching, from your own device, chances are very high the search is encrypted. In this case they may be able to tell that you did a search, and when you did it, but not the contents of the search. (If you then click on links, they may be able to tell what sites you visited as a result - although not necessarily what pages).

If your device has been taken into custody by them, there are most likely lots of tell-tale signs about what you have been done saved in caches and other files on the device. They may or may not be able to break encryption if you have it on to get to this information.