The next time your PC is on the blink, the faceless customer service person you ring may bypass talking to you and jump inside your computer instead.

Australia's biggest telecommunications company, Telstra, announced today that its help desk consultants will now have remote access to computers and smartphones to fix common technical support issues.

But a consultant "can only access a customer’s device after the customer has entered their password into a secure screen", a Telstra spokesman said.

However, an information security expert warned that handing control of and access to our personal computers to anonymous Telstra IT workers was a bad idea.

In a worst-case scenario, a customer service worker could put a "root kit" in your computer and discover all your passwords, said RMIT University senior lecturer in information security, Dr Asha Rao.