THE INAUGURAL QUADRENNIAL OPSEC ANVIL AWARDS
As I was preparing an award package for the National OPSEC Conference awards I got to thinking that it is pretty cool that our small community has an award program that recognizes people and programs that should be applauded and emulated. Recognizing personnel that have gone above and beyond what is expected is a great thing. Then I got to thinking that those who are performing below and behind should also be recognized as sterling examples of what not to do. With this in mind I give you the 2008 Inaugural Quadrennial OPSEC Anvil Awards.
The first person that comes to mind who deserves to have an OPSEC Anvil dropped on their head is: The dude who blasted out of the secure area without waiting for the door to said secure area to close behind him while I slipped in unnoticed and unescorted.
Our second award goes to: The lady on the airplane who just had to share her highly sensitive work for a government contactor with me.
Subsequent (though no less significant anvils will be dropped on):
The person who left the uncleared visitor unescorted for an extended bathroom break.
The person who put the key in the STU-III but didn’t turn it.
The person who failed to erase sensitive information from the conference room white board.
The person who blogged deployment dates and locations.
The person talking about sensitive information on their cell phone in the cafeteria.
The person who emailed critical information to their home computer.
The person whose cell phone rang in the middle of a secure area.
The person who threw FOUO and Personal Privacy Information into the trash can.
The person who’s badge was stolen from their unlocked car.
The person overheard complaining about security vulnerabilities over a beer at a local drinking establishment.
The person who shares everything with their uncleared spouse.
The person emailing successful mission tactics to all his buddies.
The person who will talk to anybody about anything while in the smoking area.
The Manager/Commander/Leader who says the word “OPSEC” but doesn’t really use it.
The list of nominees this year was quite exhaustive and to tell you the truth we ran out of OPSEC Anvils long before we ran out of people who deserve to be sedated by the “award.”
This year we need to learn from the mistakes noted above and make next years award list non-existent - or at least a whole lot shorter.
Keep the Faith!
Revelator
I Wanna Be Sedated - The Ramones
9. October 2008 at 19:13
Sir: I really thought your “Anvils Awards” were excellent and creative and true. I will be teaching a Physical Security class at the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) in a few weeks and I wonder if you would let me use those in my classes (with attribution of course). In return, I will steer my students to your blog as an excellent source of OPSEC information…….John Waller
9. October 2008 at 19:42
Thanks for the kind words John. Of course you can use anything you find here - and please accept my thanks for spreading the Gospel of OPSEC. Revelator.