Glossary · Updated

Fake activity at work: a plain-English glossary

Someone always shows as “Available” but never replies? There are a lot of names for what might be going on, from mouse jigglers and mouse movers to productivity spoofing and coffee badging. Here is what each one means, in a sentence or two.

All 23 terms, A to Z

The tools people use

Mouse jiggler

A USB gadget, an app or a motorised platform that moves a computer's pointer automatically so the computer doesn't go idle. People use them legitimately to keep a presentation, download or remote session alive; the misuse is using one to appear active at work while away.

Also called: mouse mover, mouse wiggler, mouse shaker

USB mouse jiggler

A small plug-in device that tells the computer it is an ordinary mouse, then nudges the pointer every few seconds. Often sold as “undetectable” because it looks like a normal mouse to device checks. How to check for one.

Also called: jiggler dongle, plug-in mouse mover

Software mouse jiggler

A program or script that moves the pointer or simulates input in the background. It can be renamed freely, so its name rarely gives it away.

Also called: mouse jiggler app, mouse mover software

Mechanical mouse mover

A motorised pad or turntable that a real mouse sits on. The genuine mouse moves, so nothing extra is plugged in or running on the computer.

Also called: mouse mover pad, turntable jiggler, analogue mouse mover

Keep-awake app

A utility that stops a computer sleeping or locking. Whether it also stops a chat status changing to away depends on the tool and the platform: some only prevent sleep, others simulate input. It has legitimate uses, such as presentations and long downloads.

Also called: stay-awake app, caffeine app

Key presser

A gadget, weight or script that holds down or repeatedly taps a key, so keyboard activity keeps registering while nobody is typing.

Also called: key jammer, keyboard simulator

Auto-clicker

Software that clicks the mouse automatically on a timer, producing activity without a person at the computer.

Also called: click bot

The behaviour and the words for it

Productivity spoofing

Making a work computer appear in use when the person isn't working at it, using tools such as mouse jigglers, keep-awake apps, key pressers or scripts. The term appeared widely in UK reporting about a PSNI investigation in October 2026. Read the full explainer.

Also called: activity spoofing, work-from-home spoofing, WFH spoofing, fake activity

Simulation of keyboard activity

The wording used in US regulatory (FINRA) disclosures when Wells Fargo dismissed staff in 2024. It describes faking keyboard input to create the impression of active work.

Also called: simulated activity

Keyboard fraud

A press term, used in widely syndicated AFP coverage in 2024, for faking computer activity to appear to be working.

Drive-by login

Connecting to the office network briefly, for example from the car park, so attendance systems record a visit that did not really happen.

Coffee badging

Swiping into the office, staying long enough for a coffee, then leaving to work elsewhere. The office-attendance version of looking present.

Productivity theatre

Looking busy through behaviour, such as extra messages, unnecessary meetings or staying visibly online, rather than producing results. Unlike productivity spoofing, a person is actually doing the performing.

Also called: productivity theater, performative work

Overemployment

Holding two or more jobs with overlapping hours without telling the employers, usually remote roles. It is different from an authorised second job or work done outside contracted hours. Mouse jigglers have featured in some reported cases.

Related: undisclosed multiple jobholding. Not the same as an authorised second job

Time theft

Being paid for working time that was not worked, for example by falsifying timesheets or faking activity. A legal and HR term that should be used carefully, because it is an accusation.

Also called: time fraud, timesheet fraud

Presenteeism

In occupational health, working while ill or not fit to work, usually with reduced output. The word is also used more loosely for being, or appearing, present without being productive; “digital presenteeism” covers always-on status lights and out-of-hours messages.

Also called: digital presenteeism

Detection and monitoring terms

Microsoft Teams presence

The coloured dot showing whether someone is Available, Busy, Away and so on. Teams sets it from computer activity, the Teams app and the Outlook calendar, using the most recently active device, and people can set it manually. A green dot on its own says little about whether someone is working (Microsoft).

Also called: Teams status, green status, Available status

Idle time

Time when a computer receives no mouse or keyboard input. Activity and presence tools use it as one input when deciding whether someone is active, which is what jigglers are designed to defeat.

Also called: inactivity

Synthetic input

Mouse or keyboard events generated by software rather than by a physical device. It isn't always suspicious: accessibility tools, remote-desktop software and approved automation produce it on a person's behalf. Unexpected synthetic input is one signal that can point to a software jiggler, even when the tool has been renamed.

Also called: injected input, inorganic activity, simulated input

USB HID device

The USB category that mice and keyboards belong to. Many hardware jigglers register as an ordinary HID mouse, which is why device lists rarely single them out. Touchpads, docks, receivers and accessibility equipment add HID entries too, so an extra entry isn't suspicious in itself.

Also called: human interface device

Mouse jiggler detection

Looking for signs that a work computer's activity is being produced by a jiggler, keep-awake app or script. No single signal is conclusive: detection combines how input behaves (rhythm, pauses, clicks and typing) with device and software checks, and a person reviews other explanations. How JiggleGuard does it.

Also called: fake activity detection, productivity spoofing detection

Bossware

Critics' term for intrusive worker-monitoring software, such as tools that record screens, keystrokes or webcams. It is a judgement rather than a technical category: whether monitoring is intrusive depends on what is collected and how it is used.

Also called: employee surveillance software, tattleware

DPIA

A data protection impact assessment. UK GDPR requires one before processing that is likely to result in a high risk to people, and many forms of worker monitoring will need one. It is good practice before introducing monitoring even where not strictly required. See the ICO's guidance on monitoring workers.

Also called: data protection impact assessment

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JiggleGuard flags suspected artificial input on Windows work computers, from jigglers to keep-awake apps, without recording typed text. Private beta; macOS in development.