Remember OPSEC during Antiterrorism Awareness Month

Courtesy Photo | Awareness about operations security, or OPSEC, for Department of Defense employees, military members, and others is critical to mission success. During August and Antiterrorism Awareness Month, DOD personnel are reminded to remember OPSEC. (U.S. Army Graphic Illustration)  

FORT MCCOY, WISCONSIN, UNITED STATES

08.12.2022

Courtesy Story

Fort McCoy Public Affairs Office           

Operations security, or OPSEC, is a process that we — Soldiers, family members, and civilians — use to protect critical information.

Soldiers use OPSEC to deny information to our adversaries that would endanger the mission.

Family members can use OPSEC at home and at work to prevent personal information from getting to people who want to steal from them or harm them.

Here’s some other useful information:

Do you know?
— What your unit or organization’s critical information is that needs to be safeguarded.

— What critical information you are responsible for.

— How the threat is trying of obtain your critical information.

— What steps your taking to protect your critical information.

— Who your OPSEC officer is.

Critical family
information to protect
— Personal and medical information

— Home address and phone numbers

— Financial information (account numbers)

— Social Security numbers

— Family member information (names/dates of birth)

— Family routines and vacations

— Birth dates

— Driver’s license numbers

— Medical records

— Passwords

Steps to help keep
your family safe

— Establish security protocols on your blog or webpage, such as encryption and password protection.

— Think of public Internet outlets as the front page of a local newspaper. You may be publishing useful information to criminals and terrorists.

— Check every privacy setting in your social media platforms/set your visibility to “Friends only.”

— Ask yourself, “What could the wrong person do with this information?

— Limit any detail about upcoming deployments, temporary duty assignments or work performed.

— Avoid providing identifying information that would allow someone to target you or your family, such as your address, the school your child attends or pictures of your child. These could provide clues that would enable predators to locate you and your family.

— Before posting a photo or video, make sure it does not give away sensitive information.

— Use an email address that does not contain personal information.

— Ensure younger members of the family understand what they can and cannot post online.

For more information about OPSEC, Antiterrorism Awareness Month, Antiterrorism Awareness Training, U.S. Army iWATCH, or other antiterrorism-related issues, call the Installation Antiterrorism Office at 608-388-4719.

(Article prepared by the Fort McCoy Antiterrorism Office.)

• Date Taken: 08.12.2022
• Date Posted: 08.12.2022 15:22
• Story ID: 427177
• Location: FORT MCCOY, WISCONSIN, US