Is TCS tracking employee laptops? What TCS says, explained in 5 points

TCS has denied reports that it is tracking individual employee activity on company-issued laptops, saying its monitoring tools are used for network performance, security and employee experience.TCS has denied reports that its laptop monitoring tools are being used to track individual employee activity.TCS has denied reports that it is using software to track individual employee activity on company-issued laptops. The clarification comes after a Money Control report claimed that the IT major had deployed a Digital User Experience Monitoring tool on employee devices. The report has raised questions about how companies balance cybersecurity with employee privacy. Here are five things to know about the issue.1. What was the report about?According to the report, TCS had deployed a Digital User Experience Monitoring tool on laptops issued to employees. Sources cited in the report said the software could provide information about the applications being used and the amount of time spent on them.Such tools are generally designed to give organisations visibility into how their systems and devices are performing. However, the reported capabilities led to questions over whether the technology could also be used to monitor individual employees. 2. What does TCS say?TCS has strongly rejected the suggestion that it is tracking employees."The reports regarding surveillance of employees are baseless and inaccurate. TCS does not track individual employee activity on laptops and respects their privacy. We use tools to monitor macro-level network performance, to ensure security, availability and enhanced user experience for our employees," the company said in a statement to India Today Tech. The company says its tools are focused on broader network performance rather than monitoring what individual employees are doing on their laptops.3. Why are such tools used?Digital monitoring systems can have legitimate business and security uses. Companies may use them to identify unusual network behaviour, troubleshoot technical problems, improve device performance and protect corporate systems from security threats.The concern arises when monitoring extends from system-level information to detailed records of an individual's work activity. Based on TCS' statement, the company says its monitoring is limited to macro-level network performance.4. Employee monitoring is not newTCS is not the only technology company facing questions about workplace monitoring. Similar concerns have emerged across the global technology industry. Meta, for instance, faced criticism after introducing a system that could collect information about employee keystrokes and mouse activity for an AI-related initiative. The company later added options allowing employees to pause data collection for a limited period and request exemptions.The debate has also attracted legal scrutiny in different countries, with rules around employee monitoring varying significantly by jurisdiction.5. What remains unclear?The main question is what information the TCS tools can technically access and how that information is used. The Money Control report described application-level visibility, while TCS says it does not track individual employee activity.- EndsPublished By: Ankita GargPublished On: Aug 21, 2026 12:45 IST