Information Security

What you say-what you do- gives clues and hints to potential assailants; don't leave unnecessary information available to rapists and attackers. Or identity thieves. 

Ever hear a so called expert on self-protection say things like "if they grab your purse, give it to them, its replaceable"? Well if you give them your purse guess what they now have? Pictures of you, your address, emergency contact numbers, pictures of your kids or other loved ones, maybe where you work, where you hang out, what gym you go to, and on and on. Do you really want them to know all of this about you? What happens if that mugger becomes a stalker?

Think about it... all your vital documents are in your purse, its essentially your lifeline. Maybe the purse snatcher is trying to develop a better understanding of who you are because they are 'love at first sight' potential stalker. An exercise that you and a lady friend can do together is to trade purses and see how much information they can figure out on each other. From here now begin to trim down that which is extraneous and not necessary or prepare to fight for your purse and wallet because it is your informational lifeline. In the military this is known as PERSEC Personal Security and its important that you practice it. 

Awhile back I bought a jogging stroller on an internet auction site. It wasn't available for delivery so I had to go and pick it up. The woman who owned it said I could pick it up any time and "that she keeps late hours and lives alone" (mentally I was shouting don't reveal this kind of information to a stranger!). This is clearly a violation of PERSEC.

Also, think about what you throw out in the trash, could someone who went through your trash develop a considerable dossier on you (what kind of mail you get, credit card statements, magazines you read, places  you shop, etc.). Anything with my name, bank account, personal information, or financial info either gets shredded or burned.  Other things to keep in mind are your cellphone; if this gets stolen and it has relationship references in their then someone can easily use the information to find you. For instance your cellphone says Mom & Dad on the number. They now have the number and if its a land line its not hard to do a reverse phone number look up and get the vital info on your folks. Now they could call them up and pretend to be a long lost friend looking to get back in touch with you. Yikes! What about the GPS in your car; is it programmed to take you to your home? Same thing; this violates PERSEC! Program home to be the local police station or some other innocuous location that you know how to get to your home. 

The topic of PERSEC is huge in the way of FORCE PROTECTION; or how we protect our loved ones. Though in the simplest forms its basically keeping pertinent details of your life, location, and circumstances away from people who don't need to know. 

In all regards... Stay Safe!