Operations Security (OPSEC) · 2:49am Mar 16th, 2014
I have friends in the military. It always baffles me when I see them post things like, "Getting on a plane to meet the ship in [redacted country]!"
Why would you tell the internet where to find you and your unit?
...openly and without resorting to illegal means, it is possible to gather at least 80% of information about the enemy...
-excerpt from an Al Qaeda training manual
According to the US Department of Defense, that percentage could be even higher. Open Source is any information that can be obtained freely, without breaking the law. It is social network sites, tweets, text messages, blogs, videos, photos, GPS mapping, newsletters, magazine or newspaper articles, college thesis, or anything else that is publicly available.
Your Facebook/Twitter/blog page might be secured, but what about your friends? A few hundred of them? They probably aren't spies, but they could unknowingly do something to spread the sensitive information around. Or they could get hacked. It's the internet - nothing is secret.
The easiest way to prevent things like this is keep your goddamned mouth shut. Of course privately tell your family if you're going to be out of communication for a while, but most of the people that follow your page don't need to know and probably won't notice anyway.
You may think that something you say might not be important, but combined with other small pieces from elsewhere, it could form part of a larger picture.
On a more personal note, this can help you even if you aren't in the military. For example, houses are often burgled because the thieves knew the owners would be out of town, or perhaps said thieves knew there was something valuable to be stolen because their target made a post about it.
Aaaaand now you know why TNaB is afraid to come out of the closet.
How is this pony related? Well, during the Vietnam War, the US embarked on a program for better OPSEC because information kept leaking. It was called Operation Purple Dragon. (click that link if you like history)
Yep. OPSEC is a top priority. "Loose lips sink ships" still applies today.
Yeah and people think NSA needs to hack computers to get info, they just need to browse facebook...
And with our generation becoming a bigger part of the military this will become a far bigger problem in the future... or now for that matter.
Whenever my currant unit OC is deployed, he changes all of his automatic replies to 'On Leave'.
Related: ComSec is literally the most important thing ever. The rule of thumb in the CF is that if it involves your work, keep it the fuck off the internet. Especially if it has a classification or designation. You know, cause at that point it becomes a charge.
Most I will ever post on facebook, is if I'm training somewhere, cause fuck it, and pictures of me getting awards.
It's rather frustrating, however, to find out from CNN what your next port call is before it's put out by your chain of command. There seems little point to OpSec when it's being talked about in the media.
The Navy tends to teach OPSEC a lot. They have had lectures and training exactly on what you're talking about. Facebook is the biggest problem, too. But if it isn't the sailors themselves saying something about it, it's a spouse, or a friend; exactly what you said. It's much harder to keep things like that a secret these days. Only exception that I can think of are subs. I know some things about a certain sub because of how everything that sub did was top secret.
The Navy also uses Operational Risk Management, or ORM. It's much more broad, but plays into telecommunications too. Basically, you assess the risk of doing a certain action, and determine if the risk is worth the results. They use that program to stress email and facebook communications too, because what you say is just as risk-filled as what you do. Some places even have a "risk form" that one would fill out to determine, on paper, if something was too risky or not, and even included signatures at the bottom. I never dealt with crap like that, but I've heard about it.
1929807 I know some things about a certain sub because of how everything that sub did was top secret.
I'm not sure what you mean by this sentence. You know things because they're classified?
1929823
Sorry, It's been a long day, and my brain is fried. Yeah, because their exploits are classified. All us nukes have had talks about it, or talked directly with them. It's the sort of thing that has to stay classified because it would cause a lot of problems otherwise.
And whatever you do, don't record your gripes about your boss's treatment of the classified project onto an old tape player and leave it out in the hallway unless you're *certain* that an alien invasion is imminent.
Because people are stupid, or arrogant enough to think that the enemy doesn't know of or check social media. People complain about how much of their privacy has been lost, while also posting every detail of their private lives on the internet.
They dealt with this during WWII by actually having people read letters and reports and blot out any classified or operational information. In todays instant information community, such a process is impossible, and people don't think about how their fragment of information may combine together with others.
ww2propagandaposters.com/wp-content/themes/shopperpress/thumbs/loose_lips_might_sink_ships_vintage_ww2_poster-r866e9b13ec834842add56e4f8aff0eeb_ai1d4_40010.jpg
Anyway, it's amazing how much information you can get from people who don't even realize they're giving away information.
1930133 Social engineering. Structuring dialogue to go through information you want, and then designing an exit from the conversation so they aren't suspicious that you dwelt on a particular topic.
1930141 Indeed! Also a much more efficient method of hacking into user-based systems.
I was actually thinking of HUMINT methods, but Social Engineering is a much better (and broader) way of putting it.
My college thesis isn't publicly available!
Then again, that might have something to do with the fact that I never wrote a college thesis in the first place... hmm...
Nah, I'm sure my university just has excellent security practices. That's definitely it!
1929840 You mean the 'eastern' thing? It's not as bad as all that, surely. Loose lips can't sink a ship out of water.
1929956 I used that exact saying in my reply. It still applies.
More closely related to ponies. That is why I hate the birthday game pictures. (And there is a ton pony related.) Than people start posting they results. Great now I know your birth month and day, only missing is year and I think in a lot of cases it's not to hard to find it too. And that can be a vital information. That's why I never gave my correct birth date on any site, not even on steam.
1930694 It will always apply as long as there is a military or classified information.
1931010 Hence why I've never used my real name, something Google doesn't seem to understand anymore. I don't want to display my real name as my screen name, why can't I just display my nickname?
1931392 THANK YOU!!!!!!!! I don't fucking want a Google+ account, and I don't want to use my real name! I had to put my name down as Soo Line so I would feel comfortable replying or posting anything on Youtube.
1931392
1931612
Well I can use my old nick on youtube just fine now. In the first one or two day it was a nightmare. (But now than again it's ask me I want to use my real name, obviously not.) And to top it off, I first thought my playlists was gone until I managed to log in with my old youtube acc.
1931674 The problem is, I can't make an account with a nickname, and I can't change my account to a nickname.
1931674 Until they change that feature back, I'm stuck using my old username on G+, because I can't update it without adding in my real name details. And I can't seem to find the option to say no to changing my name on Youtube. It's always either yes, or ask again later.
And given that they changed the feature about two years ago now, I don't expect them to ever change it back. It's a part of them trying to crack down on fraud and make the internet a bit more transparent.
1930133
Are we talking the closet or the one with ponies in?
Because one of those things is really gay.
Otherwise, could you lead this into a military blog focused on communications, TNaB? You do such lovely blogs.
1929807
Isn't the best way to keep a secret be not letting anyone know there is a secret being kept at all?
Saying that there is one is already halfway to reveling the damn thing...
1933739
Yeah, I know. I think it's a sort of open secret, you know? They know there are secrets, but they can't tell them still.