DEFENSE: PROACTIVE, SOCIAL

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Once you have achieved technical security, you need to understand your attack surface from a social standpoint. This is far more applicable to a family with kids and grandparents than to a single male, but even that single male can be socially vulnerable in surprising ways. A good example is a case where a group of teens basically tricked a man into hitting one of them while another was covertly making a video of it - good blackmail material. There's also the classic version of the girl who cries "rape!", using some fabricated evidence against an innocent man. Remember, the illusion of safety can disappear very quickly.

 

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Step 1: Understand your social surroundings
What are the various ways that the Attacker can socially(!) make contact with the Target?
- school?
- work?
- extracurricular activities?
- other social circles?
- Internet forums, websites, etc?
- social media? (discussed separately, below)
- Internet databases? (employment websites, charity “thank-you” lists, blogs, school articles, etc)

 

In other words, what are the potential social circles that an Attacker could come from? Where can an attack originate? This may seem like an impossible task, but it’s actually quite straightforward. For example, you may know that an elderly person (the Target) lives in a retirement home (social circle), and has only a laptop (technical device). The Target does not socialize with anyone outside the retirement home, and only uses the laptop for (1) email, (2) YouTube, (3) social media. Keeping the laptop secure (with passwords on the operating system, email, social media page) already makes it less likely to be vulnerable to someone physically present at the retirement home (social circle). A dishonest employee of the home won’t be able to simply open the laptop and freely go on an online banking portal of that Target. Watching YouTube videos may not be a risky activity, but answering certain emails and being active on social media pages certainly can be dangerous. Locking down social media (and keeping an eye on the Target’s online presence later) will go a long way to increase security. Placing a few email filters and educating the target on email safety will also significantly decrease the attack surface by protecting from social engineering attacks, like scams.

 

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Step 2: Examine your online attack surface

Social media is like a second social life for many people, regardless of age. Although this section really falls under the one above, social media is so unique that it deserves to be singled out. It is very important to maximize control of one’s online presence, but most people don’t even consider the dangers. Those who do, usually only think that they know what they’re doing, but that’s rarely the case. Consider that criminals themselves don’t want to be found (generally speaking), and will go to great lengths to conceal information that might lead investigators to their whereabouts. There was a case where the floor tiles of a kitchen (seen on a photo posted online by a relative of the criminal) allowed the investigative team to determine the criminal’s address. This was done through correlation with other data, of course, but it was a critical piece of information. Criminals, such as online predators, can also use such simple analytical methods to deduce all kinds of info about a Target.

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Consider the following, when making your analysis:

- Which social media pages does the Target have? (Facebook, Twitter, etc)
- How is each account locked down? (security, settings, permissions, etc)
- What information is available? To whom?
- Does the Target post photos online? Does the camera device embed geotags in the photos?(!)
- Does the Target freely offer sensitive personal info in online posts?
- Does the Target have a social circle which unintentionally increases the Target's online presence?

The last point is important to note. Take, for example, a teenage girl. She may have a Facebook account that is strictly “private” or “Friends only” when it comes to permissions (for things like “My Photos,” “My Friends,” etc), but her best friend is clueless, and has no "permissions" restrictions on her own account; her page also contains pictures and/or other useful info about the primary girl (the Target). Such open info can be accessed by anyone with an Internet connection.

How do you check?

 

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Step 3: Google.

You don't have to pay a private investigator to do this, as long as you (or someone you trust) has good search-engine skills. See what you find - you might be surprised.

Understand who the Target’s social circle consists of, then Google them too. This is not paranoia - this is exactly(!!!) what an attacker will do. A stalker risks far less by stalking his/her prey online than by following them on the street, not to mention it feels far safer to do it from behind a screen. If someone is researching you or your loved ones, you should check what they can see.

 

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Step 4: Check Social Media settings

When it comes to Social Media, a good approach is to carefully go over each social media platform’s “permissions” page, and lock it down as much as possible. Permissions on Facebook can be completely private; available to “Friends”; available to “Friends-of-Friends”; or available to everyone. There’s really no reason why someone’s list of friends or personal photos should be available to anyone in the world with a Facebook account. Social Media platforms change their features all the time, so this article can quickly become outdated if we go into details here. A good search like "how to make facebook account private" will provide plenty of articles but make sure you're reading something up-to-date.

 

Remember: there is a ton of info on the Internet covering such topics. This site is by no means a complete resource.