The CIA WikiLeaks Revelation: Does It Affect Your Prepping?

“Documents released Tuesday by WikiLeaks allege a CIA surveillance program that targets everyday gadgets ranging from smart TVs to Smartphone’s to cars”.

“Such snooping, WikiLeaks said, could turn some of these devices into recorders of everyday conversations — and could also circumvent data-scrambling encryption on communications apps such as Facebook’s WhatsApp” (FoxNews.com, 2017).

To some people, this comes as no surprise that government agencies are snooping. That’s what they do is snoop, however, most people assumed they were checking up on foreign governments and their people, not us here in the heartland. Well, we don’t know for sure whom they are targeting, we don’t know yet anyway. They have the technology, however, but is doesn’t necessarily mean they are using or have used it.

You may have a firearm in the home and have never used it, so the fact that they have the ability to use the technology doesn’t mean they have. Nevertheless, to be safe, and to practice good OPSEC, or Operational Security assumes they do use it, and that others and not necessarily state-sponsored players have the technology as well.

There are always pros and cons’. Technology makes our life easier, saves lives, and even extends our lives in some cases, but there is always a price to pay, and in today’s world, it seems increasing clear that only a select few have advanced technology.

Oh, we have our computers, Smartphone’s, and we can order a pizza by voice commands while taking a shower using a device that sits on the counter ready to cater to our every whim. We can drive vehicles that know when we doze off, or are ready to rear end another vehicle, but we survived for decades before all this came about. However, will we survive the advancement of technology, we survived without it, but can we survive with it.

Are You Worried

Taking the long view, we should be concerned that America’s secrets are always up for sale, or that someone with a grievance or agenda can gain access and spill all to the world. Whether it affects you personally is another matter, but the nation’s security can be and could be at some future point put at risk, which would affect us all.

No one cares that you just bought 100 pounds of rice and beans at a big box store, no one cares that you ordered 1,000 rounds of .22LR online. No one cares until given a reason to care.

Posting online unless it condones violence, or you start make threats will not gain anyone’s attention; unless of course your passport is so stamped with foreign travel, you need a separate page.

Who has heard the saying, “Show me who you hang with and I will tell you who you are”. It holds some truth, but given the Internet today and world coverage, you may not know whom you are interacting with online. Are they under surveillance have they done something to get noticed, are they on anyone’s radar. Do you know?

Just be careful about what you do online, and who you may friend, email or simply correspond with.

OPSEC means you keep secrets, and if everyone knows your secrets then well, they are not secrets are they. 

If you are worried about some chain smoking Intel analysts hunching over his keyboard every night tuning into your bedroom drama using your smart TV then unplug it. Technology hasn’t advanced to the point to where someone can remotely plug your TV back in.

Take the battery out of your Smartphone if you want to ensure your private conversations at home or anywhere stay private. Unplug your laptop so the camera and microphone cannot be activated and make sure your children’s computers and iPads are off, covered up, closed, or put in a closet at night.

The technology is there for spying but they can’t spy if the technology is not powered up or not on your person. Technology is rather easy to defeat when you think about it. No battery installed, and no power means technology is in the dark. Use common sense, don’t talk too much, and do not get into arguments with online forum trolls, who delight in raising your blood pressure in hopes you reveal some personal info as you struggle to one-up them.

FoxNews.com. (2017, March 9). Retrieved 2017, from http://www.foxnews.com/us/2017/03/09/outside-contractors-for-cia-reportedly-eyed-in-wikileaks-dump-probe.html

The post The CIA WikiLeaks Revelation: Does It Affect Your Prepping? appeared first on Preparing for shtf.

Source: prepforshtf.com