Personal Security in Social Media

Keep yourself safe in real life by being aware of what you are posting on social media.

When an artist puts their brush to the canvas, those watching them work begin to see the strokes as they are applied.  What was previously an empty plane, open to endless possibilities, becomes a masterpiece that translates the creative genius of the painter and inspires awe and imagination in those that view it.  But what if the painting that began to come into place revealed a deep, dark secret?  What if you wanted to stop the painting?  You just take some of the paints.  

Operational Security, aka OpSec or OPSEC, teaches that it is the little details, seemingly insignificant on their own, that paint the picture needed to win battles.  The sames applies with personal security.  The best self-defense is to avoid the situation entirely.  And while this is something that is not possible 100% of the time, there are things that you can do to limit the opportunities malicious actors may have toward you.

Be careful what you say.

Social media apps are a very common way to stay connected with friends and meet new people.  However, many people overlook the privacy settings on their apps and share openly.  In the U.S. we value our first amendment rights to speak freely.  This right, however, can also leave us vulnerable.  We have the right, and so we freely exercise it.  We feel that we must broadcast our thoughts to the world; and that those who have similar feelings glorify our opinions and those that don't must be educated until they agree with us or villified.  

So how do your interactions on social media translate to OPSEC?  Consider each piece of data as a brush stroke in the picture of 'you'.  The first things to consider in this picture is what details you put about yourself on your profiles.  The details about where you live, where you have lived, your employment history, what you like for entertainment, and events that you have attended can already start to paint a picture of who you are as an individual.  But this only gives you an outline or a shadow (and, by the way, is part of the information that marketers use to send you targeted advertisements to get you to buy things); it's the lines that they can begin to color about you.

Next, consider the things that you post.  Do you actively post?  Do you post links to articles?  Do you share other people's posts?  What kind of things do you post about?  What you post about shows more about you than you would typically imagine.

Let's consider John for a moment.  John regularly posts links to scriptures, shares posts from 'daily reading' and 'daily motivational' pages. He posts pictures about church services, and talks about his wife and kids often (including pictures).  From this information we can surmise that he is religious, married, a father, and (depending on the types of scriptures posted) his beliefs.  This information in and of itself does not give us information about his political beliefs or purchasing trends, but it does begin to show us a Pattern of Life.

Patterns of Life are the routines that we follow.  If we get into an established routine it provides opportunities for malicious actors.  For example, by John posting about the religious services that he attends with his family each week we can assume that his house will be empty for a period of time consistently.  This provides a regular window of opportunity.

Now, consider the places that John is checking in.  You can see that he regularly checks in at his church, but that he also checks in from local restaraunts and regularly checks in at a gym.  The Picture of John begins to take a little more shape.

Next, we begin to look at the friends and family that John is connected to, and begin the same exercise with them.  We can paint a picture about how diverse his connections are, and as we begin to establish these connections we can dive into the interactions between John and his friends' posts to determine the nature of their interactions.  Is the tone of the interactions positive or negative?   Do we see posts where they agree, and can we find posts where they do not agree?  Are there mutual friends between John and each of his friends?  This type of analysis brings even more of the picture into focus as each interaction is a stroke of the brush.  The posts that John is supporting affirm his beliefs, the ones where he is asking questions shows where he is either willing to learn, or is attempting to understand or drive understanding, and the ones that he is debating on shows where his convictions are strong.

Let's assume that John has been commenting recently on posts related to the second amendment.  He is constantly asserting that he doesn't feel that it is necessary for people to own firearms, much to the consternation of several (but not all) of his friends.  Evaluating his pictures and check-ins shows that he works out at the gym, but he enjoys competitive sports and avoids conversations around violence, shooting, or martial arts.  A malicious actor may use this information to determine that John's house is relatively unarmed and that he is unlikely to put up much resistance if confronted.

As we continue to look at John, we notice that he often posts pictures of his family vacations and hosts livestreams of some of his activities.  While this is fun and keeps people that care about you informed of what's going on in your life and allows them to feel connected, there is a significant risk of posting about your vacation while you are away.  It broadcasts that your house is most likely empty as well as how far away you are.  Take videos and pictures, and post them when you return to the comfort of your house.  And while you're away, make sure that you hold all mail to your house and arrange to have your yard upkept until you return.

But it's not just social media that can paint the picture.  Many people use decals and bumper stickers to communicate their opinions with other drivers.  This can fill in details about the numbers and potential age ranges for family members, which school children may attend (for example, 'honor role student' bumper stickers), and whether or not your spouse has a job that keeps them away for extended periods of time (such as 'I love my firefighter').

So, as you can see, it's not just a single post or source that can be used to paint a picture of you.  When someone begins to investigate your potential as a target, it's the little pieces of information that quickly add up to determine whether you are a viable candidate, or if you are a risk.

Unless your intent is to be an open book, keep yourself safe by keeping your business to yourself.  And if your intent is to have active engagement around a topic consider this:  if the only thing that people know about your stance on a particular subject is from what you post on social media you are not part of the conversation, you're merely background noise.