Just Got Back from my Top Secret Vacation

Yes, I’m back from my top secret vacation… a relaxing 7 day cruise with my family on the brand new Royal Princess!

What?  You didn’t know I was gone?

PRECISELY MY POINT!

Social media can be a great tool to keep up with friends, classmates, family and business associates.  Heck, if you use it right it can even be a source of income for you!

But in the wrong hands it can also be a security breach.  Imagine this scenario:  I post on my Facebook/Google+/Twitter “WooHoo, here we are getting on the boat for our 7 day cruise with my parents and Tim’s parents!  No phone, no computer, just relaxation for 7 whole days!”

What I just did was told the world (ie., the “bad guys”) that not only will MY house be empty for the next 7 days, but also 2 other houses!  Now you might argue that only my “friends” will see this post, but the truth is you never know who’s watching.

(by the way, here’s a serious example: 4 US Apache helicopters were destroyed after our troops posted pictures of them and the insurgents were able to read the geo-tags in the picture to locate them and attack, here’s an article)

Since I began training on personal safety and security, I’ve become much more aware of what I post on social media.  I’ll admit that I’m still not perfect, but I definitely don’t post as much of our location stuff as I used to.  Instead of “going to spend the day at Sea World” in the morning, I usually post “Whew! Great day today at Sea World… glad to be home!”

I also don’t post things like “Tim’s out of town for a week… what am I going to do all by myself for a WHOLE week?”  Can you see where that might be a dangerous announcement?

Good, now you’re getting the point!

Stay Safe My Friends!

Andy

p.s. I’ve got some cool video footage I want to show you from the cruise… just need to edit it a little and then I’ll show you!