Operational Security and Privacy Quick Overview

This article highlights the key online vulnerabilities that can exploited by threat actors and provides a few simplified recommendations to mitigate them. 

*Note that this is not an exhaustive recommendations list. If you are interested in improving your operational security or have a high threat profile, we strongly recommend reading our full article - Safeguarding Your Online Identity Methodology. 

Common Vulnerabilities and Sources of Exposure

• Images and posts that can be used to infer personal information or patterns of life (i.e., frequently visited locations, daily schedule, and accessibility) 
• Tags, interactions, images, and comments by friends/family. 
• Content that you follow or interact with that suggests a connection. 
• Obvious or repeated usernames. 
• Person data aggregators.
• Publicly accessible files.
• Data breaches.

Quick Recommendations

• Review and tighten the privacy settings on all your online accounts. 

• Be mindful of what personal information is revealed by the content and media you post online. 

• Never publicly advertise (via geo-tag, interaction, post, photo, or video) your live location or intent to attend a location. 

• Avoid posting information that can be used to infer your schedule/accessibility. 

• Avoid posting identifiable photos of locations that you frequent (i.e., your residence) 

• Make it difficult for people to identify your social media profile. 

• Consider utilizing profile pictures and cover photos that are difficult to clearly identify as you (i.e., silhouetted photos) or simply leaving them blank. 

• Consider utilizing a pseudonym or slightly altered/misspelt version of your name. 

• Remember that you do not need to fill out all biographic ‘about me’ details on social media, leave your city of residence blank, and consider deleting information that is unnecessary. 

• Do not reuse passwords and change them frequently. 

• Talk to those close to you, educate them on operational security, and ask them to be mindful of what information they share online.