OPSEC In Your Daily Life

Well, first of all, I agree with you 100%.
Second, the Dragonman is VERY cool, and once he gets to know you a bit will talk and talk. Used to take my nephews to his paintball range often when I lived in Colorado. Been shooting at his range many times and rented quite a few of his weapons.

Not saying it's a good thing but I disclose more on here than I ever do anywhere else. Around home I'm just a good 'ol boy who can fix stuff and likes to shoot his guns out back every so often. Most of our family have no idea what we have or that we prep.

 

OPSEC is funny, always remember that old saying that no two people in the US are more than about 6 contacts apart. Once you tell someone anything about your preps you have no idea who they are going to tell and you can't get the information back . I live in NH, talk weekly with family in MN, FL. TN, KS, and CA. Then I am on the net and only God knows where people are watching or what their intent is. Given that I purchase from the net, including some from ads here and other blogs, buy from out of state suppliers, etc, I have very little hope of flying below the radar and just hope that they will be after much bigger fish. Can't hope to be a grey man, but do think it is better to hide like a quail than look like a peacock.

 

I have nothing.
Work full time as a millwright electrician, the cars and house are paid off. And I have a really bad cocane, liquor and hooker addittion.
That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

 

And how many ABC agency's do we have on here at any given time taking notes?
Btw fuds, Put a passion mark on my ???

 

At my age, and health, I have somewhat abandoned the OPSEC that I used when I was younger and active with various "Patriot" groups.
Nowadays I mostly promote Survivalism to others and try to relate my personal experiences to the upcoming who need it.
I also have a BOL where most of my gear and supplies reside.

"OPSEC" tends to be an overworked ideal sometimes.
We are not the CIA, Nor are we a "Terror Cell" trying to avoid a visit from a laser guided bomb.
Maybe "BOB" doesn't need to know everything, but you might open a discussion if he does "see something".
And it might lead to Ol' Bobby becomingless ofa problem later on.

I am probably in the minority with my opinion. That's okay.

 

When I first started this journey, It was a long, hard, and awfully lonely journey for me, I didn't share any thing with any one, I never purchased any thing unless it was F.T.F. and in CASH, I never bought any thing in large amounts, and I never did any thing online related to any thing prepping. that all changed when I realized that even the OPSEC I was doing, people still talk, and people started asking questions. Now days I am more open about what I am doing, and I find most people to be helpful. This tells me that what I thought of as fringe was more common then I ever thought. I still practice OPSEC, but I realize that I can only do so much, and if it complicates things too much, I drop it a notch or too. Now, about that M-41 A3! Whoops, let that one slip! LOL

 

Nobody knows anything about my preps except for a very short list of people I'd have on my team. Those that do don't know everything, just the part that relates to their possible role along with perhaps an old backup rifle I might have you can use if needed.

 

I am from a small town where everyone knows me and back in my younger days some of the stuff I did when you could beat a man ass when he needed it helps me out now and other people story's are a lot better than the truth and that helps to and the fact I am always out in the yard shooting my bows slingshots throwing knives or Hawks shooting blow guns or atlatl makes people stay away

 

I reveal very little about myself on line that can be traced back to me specifically. No one here or on any forum even knows what state I live in. I don't disclose my marital status, where I work, children, or even pets. You can go back and read every single post i've ever made and you'll never find this information.

My ham radio blog does not mention my callsign anywhere, and my profile on qrz.com does not mention my blog to avoid cross-contamination.

I will say my real name actually is Tevin, but if anyone googled Tevin and my last name they would be sent way off course. Trust me, I've tried it. The name is not as unusual as you would think and it helps that Tevin Cambpell, a 90s-era R&B singer, and Tevin Coleman, a college football star, take up the first several pages of search engine hits.

The neighbors don't know I'm armed. I live low key and non-descrpt. I don't drive a flashy car or call attention to myself. I'm not active on social media. Even my family and close friends do not know the full extent of my preps.

No one can be 100% in the dark but I think I do as good a job as one can in these times.

 

Even if you are using properly configured TAILS every time we unwittingly give away more information than we realize even if we think we are being careful. Whatever safeguards we think we have in terms of privacy are just a veneer. Look at the recent revelations of Susan Rice exploiting the ability to eavesdrop on foreign agents without a warrant IF the names of US citizens are redacted. Except they really aren't except when forced to share the info in a public forum.

Remember a year or so ago when a troll pieced together the location of one of our members based on a collection of seemingly innocuous and unrelated information that summed to his home and the lake he lives by? The professionals know each and every one of us on any forum that believes in small government, personal freedom,and adherence to the US Constitution.

 

One of the major reasons that I joined and am somewhat active in this group is its live and let live attitude and its relaxed attitude towards things for the most part. I am 79, don't live at a 1,000 acre off grid ranch in Utah, believe in God, like firearms and the old ways and love hearing others views of the things I enjoy. It may not be the best of OPSEC, but I like hearing about someone else thoughts on reloading, or ham radio or the Geneva bible, or politics, or greenhouses, and am not willing to throw the baby out with the bath water in the name of security. Can a troll or the government or Yahoo figure out who I am or where I live. I take for granted that they already know. Was reminded of that when I bought parts to fix the brakes on my car. It has been 60,000 miles and 3 years since I last did them, went into the auto parts place I always use, have an account, get 15 % off, etc, and he takes down the information on car and goes back and picks up pucks and discs and goes to check me out. The computer reminds him that my car has a special package and that I don't use the standard, I need the oversized ones instead. Had military security and worked on missiles while going to college and had a file pages long for that. I don't really know how to handle OPSEC, don't want to pin a target on my back, but don't intend to move to another state and assume a false identity etc either. I am an old dog and just trying to live out the rest of my life in comfort and have hopes of doing that even if the gimmies and idiots screw thing up on a massive scale. At my age I need to be at peace with God and have all the friends I can get.

 

One thing to remember that before anyone will eavesdrop on you, you first have to be saying something worth hearing.

Yes, the government has the capability to poke into our lives, but why would they care? And what would they find? I speak only for myself, but there are way more interesting people than me out there.

Of much more import is the nosey neighbor or the pissed off ex or a disgruntled ex coworker/employee. Unless you: A) Were foolish enough to splatter your life all over the internet, B) were involved with something that made the news media, or C) gave too much personal information to untrustworthy people (see also A), then there isn't much these people can do to "get" you.

A guy I only loosely know is being hounded on line. The problem is, the person hounding him is releasing unpleasant facts about his professional qualifications that can be easily proven with a simple google search. In a way, this guy had it coming.

Anyway, the "victim," if that's what he can be called, is claiming to be a cybersecurity expert, he can trace anyone, no one can beat him, blah, blah, blah. Funny though....he's never caught his tormenter even though this has been going on for years.

The moral of the story: It does not take a super-spy or cyber wizard to make your life miserable. The more you shoot your mouth off, the more ammo you give to the enemy.

But in this clown's case, I am kind of enjoying watching him squirm and avoid explaining himself.

 

My opsec is so good, that a goodly number of folk actually believe that I'm Australian!

 

I thought you were on a mission so you could become a church Elder...

 

Tennessee