Does Microsoft Teams track keystrokes?

Everyone wants to be able to work in a secure atmosphere. However, using popular platforms like Microsoft Teams comes with suspicion of Teams accessing your personal data. You may be concerned about Microsoft’s actions to monitor you and how much of your data they have access to, including keystrokes. In this blog, we’ll look at if Teams have access to keystrokes and, if so, what you can do to mitigate the risk.  

Read through and learn if Teams can track keystrokes in Microsoft Teams. Here you will learn if Teams can track keystrokes and, if so, how you can reduce your chances of this occurring. Above are some of the key areas you will want to know about for this particular topic in what Teams can access?  

Can Microsoft Teams track keystrokes.  

I’ve discovered that Teams saves all of your conversations, voicemails, shared meetings, files, transcriptions, and profile information, including your email address and phone number. This behavior is used for monitoring purposes and allows Teams to generate a detailed data log to improve their network and help users store information much more effectively. This information cannot be shared or transferred without authorization or government consent due to stricter data protection laws.  

Back to the question, can Teams monitor keystrokes in Microsoft Teams? It is hard to say as there is no official statement from Microsoft to suggest their input in monitoring keystrokes. Users can rest assured that any information they gather will be subject to the data protection laws of the host country, which means the information provided remains safe and secure.  

Microsoft Teams monitors activity to help get a detailed report on which aspects of their software are used the most; think of it as a hotspot graph where areas of use are monitored closely. If there is an area of Teams that many users haven’t used, Teams may opt to remove those functions, especially if they are in a hot spot on the UI, and replace them with a highly used function to improve the UI and user experience of the program.  

What can you do to mitigate Team tracking keystrokes?  

How can we reduce the chances of Teams monitoring keystrokes? As there is no official explanation, we can only assume the worst: Teams is actively monitoring keystrokes. Read along to see what you can do to mitigate Teams’ chances of monitoring keystrokes.   

You can update privacy settings in the Microsoft Teams app to reduce the chances of keystroke monitoring; some settings actively prevent Teams from data harvesting for specific reasons. Go through and learn how you can use the privacy settings in Teams to stop keystroke tracking.  

  • Firstly, open the Microsoft Teams app.  
  • Click on “Settings and more” (illustrated by three dots).  
  • Now click on “Settings.”  
  • From there, click on “Privacy.”  
  • Make sure the toggle for “Read receipts” is turned off.  
  • Now go to the option called “Captions and Transcripts.”  
  • Finally, make sure the toggle for that is turned off.  

Turning off these toggles will reduce the chances of data harvesting for a specified reason from Teams; you will not have to worry about Teams storing information to allow people to know a message has been sent or allow for data feed inputs from transcripts. These both may use keystrokes to monitor what you have sent and monitor what you have content-wise for audio base inputs. Disabling this removes the need for data storing, and therefore the requirement for keystroke monitoring has been completely reduced. You can also change some other toggles if necessary and if they are not required upon request. If you do require them, reverse the steps illustrated above, and you will have reverted to the original toggle setting, which in this case was switched on.  

In-depth step-by-step guide [with screenshots] – What can you do to mitigate Team tracking keystrokes?  

  • Firstly, open the Microsoft Teams app.  
  • Click on “Settings and more” (illustrated by three dots).  
  • Now click on “Settings.”  
  • From there, click on “Privacy.”  
  • Make sure the toggle for “Read receipts” is turned off.  
  • Now go to the option called “Captions and Transcripts.”  
  • Finally, make sure the toggle for that is turned off.  

These programs may employ keystrokes to track what you’ve sent and what you’ve got in terms of audio base inputs. Disabling this eliminates data storage, reducing the necessity for keystroke tracking to a bare minimum. Turning off these toggles reduces the likelihood of data harvesting from Teams for a specific cause; you won’t have to worry about Teams retaining information to let individuals know a message was delivered or allowing data feed inputs from transcripts. You can also change additional toggles if necessary (and if they are not required). If you still need them, reverse the actions outlined above, and you’ll be back to the default toggle setting.  

Data collection metrics of Microsoft Teams  

Microsoft Teams gathers three categories of data about the program, similar to Skype for Business: census data, use data, and error reporting data. Census data comprises information about your device, operating system, user language, and the creation of a unique user ID that is hashed (or protected) twice to prevent it from being linked to a specific person.  

Some data is acquired automatically, while others require users to opt in or out of sharing their personal information with the firm. Census data is gathered by default and cannot be turned off; however, Microsoft quickly points out that it cannot use the data collected to identify a company or individual user.  

Microsoft also gathers information on your usage, such as the number of messages sent, calls and meetings attended, and your company’s name as registered with Teams. It also keeps track of when things go wrong so that services may be improved—all of the apps you use to capture a large portion of this data.  

Conclusion  

Thank you for taking your time to read our blog; from this, we can conclude that Microsoft gathers information regarding service improvements and user experience enhancements. However, we have illustrated some steps you can take to further reduce the harvesting of personal data. 

Saajid Gangat

Saajid Gangat has been a researcher and content writer at Business Tech Planet since 2021. Saajid is a tech-savvy writer with expertise in web and graphic design and has extensive knowledge of Microsoft 365, Adobe, Shopify, WordPress, Wix, Squarespace, and more! You can connect with Saajid on Linkedin.

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