OPSEC And Your Circle Of Friends

by Ken Jorgustin, Modern Survival Blog:

OPSEC, or Operational Security can be so very, very important.

What is OPSEC? In short, it is keeping certain things secret, or simply the purposeful action of not talking about something or avoiding the topic altogether.

When it comes to prepping, preparedness, issues of security, and MANY other ‘things’, maintaining good OPSEC may be more important than you may realize. Especially when it comes to your immediate circle of friends – those whom you trust.

Here’s what I mean…

Depending on ‘you’, and your own ability (or lack thereof) to detect whether or not someone else is trustworthy or not so trustworthy, your immediate circle of ‘trusted’ friends (and/or family) may or may not be trustworthy enough for you to freely divulge certain information that may be better held quietly.

Even for those who truly believe that their own ability to detect trustworthiness among their immediate circle is good and ‘sound’, the thing is that your inner circle can break down OPSEC – even when it is not particularly intentional.

Here’s how it could happen… You mention something to one of your inner circle. It seemed harmless enough to mention it. After all you trust that person not to blab to the whole world about it. Well here’s the thing. That other person might not have the same level of OPSEC or concern about that particular nugget of information, and it ‘might’ inadvertently come out during another ‘harmless’ conversation with someone else from THEIR OWN circle of friends.

So now that information has been revealed two levels out from you. Even if that person who is within the second ring of people is not a blabbermouth, the thing is – that person might not realize the OPSEC value of the nugget of information that was casually revealed to them. And that person ‘might’ inadvertently (or otherwise) reveal that information within THEIR OWN own circle (which would now make it three levels away from you). All it takes is one person to potentially take advantage of that information to ‘ruin your day’ so to speak.

I am speaking very broadly and generically, but I’m trying to explain how information can spread beyond your circle of trust, even inadvertently.

So how do you maintain good OPSEC? When it comes to certain things that may be better off ‘secret’, then maybe it’s best that you be very careful who you say ‘anything’ to.. if at all.

I’m not presenting a ‘paranoid’ type of suggested behavior, but I am suggesting that some things should be on a ‘need to know’ basis, and only YOU know what those things are.

So not only ‘think’ about what you say before you say it, but ‘think’ about WHO you say it to…

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