The cyberspace threat: Do you really know who you’re communicating with on-line?

  • Published
  • By Master Sgt. Brian S. Bosse
  • 355th Fighter Wing Plans and Programs
DAVIS-MONTHAN AIR FORCE BASE, Ariz. --  You may have seen the television show where an investigator confronts an unsuspecting predator looking to meet someone underage he met on a social networking site. A decoy would lure the predator by means of an on-line "chat" and the predator is caught and taken to jail. The predator had no idea he was communicating on-line with law enforcement until the investigator confronts him with an on-line transcript.

Let's analyze this and think about its application to OPSEC. The predator assumed he knew who he was chatting with and ended up being fooled. It's easy to conceal a true identity on-line by creating a fictitious profile. You may have a "My Space," "Facebook" or other social network account and think you really know the person that you're chatting with on-line, but do you? Are you making an assumption because you want to trust the person you are chatting with? The other person could be using elicitation tactics called Social Engineering to gather intelligence on you and your military service. Social Engineering is done by asking seemingly innocent, but targeted questions to obtain information. You may think your chatting with Bob the bomber at Moody, when it's really Al-Queda in Afghanistan trying to gather details about incoming A-10's and manpower to Bagram on an AEF rotation. Don't be fooled by these tactics. Never compromise our Critical Information by sharing these kinds of details on-line, or in person. OPSEC needs to be practiced whenever we are communicating over any device and in open forums.

So, how can you verify someone's true identity? Do some intelligence work of your own. If they are military, you can verify them on the global. You can also use on-line directories, like www.anywho.com and people search engines. These are free tools and only take a few minutes to use. You also need to use your intuition by challenging things that do not seem right. Always remember to protect our Critical Information. It is up to all of us to safeguard our Critical Information when we are on-line. For a complete listing of the 355th FW Critical Information please visit the OPSEC website at https://wingxp/opsec.htm or contact the 355TH FW OPSEC Program Manager at 228-1019.