Homeland Security Uses AI Tool to Analyze Social Media of Citizens and Refugees

Either one of the TLAs (FBI, CIA, or NSA) or a third-party company monitors the social media of security researchers associated with some big name firms. The reason I know this is a buddy said they were out at some DEF CON party and taking pictures with people. Just after the event, they got a call from their boss that they, in turn, got a call from their boss who got a call from some government-affiliate that the person they took a picture with was a "bad dude" and it would be wise to not associate with them. It sounds like a made-up conspiracy theory/paranoia shit, but it sounded truthful by someone who wasn't in the business of making shit up. My impression was it's creepy and promotes chilling effects on meeting people for fear of harming one's employment.

I was going to mention Babel before reading the article, but it turns out it’s there.

I think everyone in the cyber community knows that three letter agencies are using and abusing OSINT especially Babel in their work, which is why whatever you write or say online with any of your real ID, assumes it’s linked to you in some database somewhere.

OSINT isn’t illegal, it’s just accessing public data the person posted, and from what I have seen, mostly what the person posts is usually what will pinpoint them for further analysis, Silkroad is probably the biggest example.

Simply put, if you would avoid these passive crawlers by the spooks:

1- Different username for each service, or a common one goes too.

2- Do not use the same email across multiple services, use a catch-all or a masked alias for each service, that way knowing one won’t lead to another, Additionally, you will get a heads-up if that service is breached, remember, emails are NOT secure by design, no matter what the provider says that you pay for, emails are not secure.

3- Do not use any service that asks for your phone number as a way to “verify” you or to access the account, period. That will include all social media and even the ones advocating themselves as security-focused like Signal and the likes, Phone numbers are one of the easiest and best way to ID someone, regardless of the details like E2EE etc.

4- Don’t use your real address, and if you have to, get a virtual one.

5- IP, While you can use a VPN, the best way is to use a shared wifi, I will leave the rest to you to find ;)

6- And obviously do not go vlogging all your life on the internet.

Up to here it doesn’t take much, rest will definitely will:

7- AD ID in the article, well, it’s probably the toughest as unless you go with custom hardened smartphones and avoid using most apps, most likely it will leak, so best to have two phones, one for these apps and another for yourself, not the optimal solution.

8- Work history, well, as long as you pay the taxes most likely will be traced back to you, Additionally, you can register a company and work as a contractor but that defeats the purpose if you are after keeping a low profile.

And lastly, create a profile with your real name/phone in some popular social media with some puppies in it, so it will come up first when someone search about you, as having nothing at all will definitely have some raised eyebrows, feel free to add some tips too.