Honey traps often feature fake profile “pictures” of extremely attractive people, for example a picture of “Alessandra Ambriosio” (considered one of the most beautiful women on earth) was actually used to target the author of this report (pictured here in Ralph Lauren ad 2001). In checking out that person’s profile who was trying to befriend me on Facebook I seen literally hundreds of men in uniform from all three different service branches in the United States, including the U.S. Coast Guard. Needless to say I did not accept the request but instead made a detailed list of that person’s friends and quietly passed the information on to the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) – who I pray to God acted on the information, because I never heard back from them in this case.
Taliban insurgents and terrorist operatives from different parts of the world are posing themselves as “attractive women” on Facebook to befriend coalition soldiers and gather sensitive and secret intelligence information about military operations and personnel, according to a recent report in the Herald Sun – Australia’s most influential newspaper.
According to the article:
“Australian soldiers are given pre-deployment briefings about enemies creating fake profiles to spy on troops. Personnel are also being warned that geo-tagging – a function of many websites that secretly logs the location from where a post is made or a photo is uploaded – is a significant danger. Family and friends of soldiers are inadvertently jeopardizing missions by sharing confidential information online, the report warns” (see article: Taliban using Facebook to lure Aussie soldierhttp://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/national/taliban-using-facebook-to-lure-aussie-soldier/story-fndo317g-1226468094586 ).
The article was seen as sort of a wake up call for military commanders in the field.
Most of the troop’s survey in the report did not recognize that people contemplate or fathom the idea that someone could be using fake profiles, perhaps “masquerading as school friends” or others to solicit information and monitor troops movements and locations…
In fact most soldiers were totally oblivious to that even being a possibility.
Fewer still even considered the possibility of “data mining” and how patterns of behavior can be identified over time using social networking sites.
Many were also unaware that their reckless actions could be placing their family and loved ones back home at greater risk of blackmail and extortion attempts.
The review recommended “education for family and friends” on the dangers of sharing details like names, ranks, locations, pictures, telephone numbers and addresses online.
Soldiers are being snared more and more in “digital honey traps” on Facebook and other social networking sites.
The Facebook honey traps often involve fake profiles pictures featuring “extremely attractive people”, like fashion models or celebrities.
In some cases, these profile pictures are “clipped” directly from Eli, Vogue or Star magazine where the emphasis is on “sex appeal.”
Needless to say the dangers of honey traps are very real online. Its also being reported more and more in the corporate world as well.
You can just imagine how dangerous it can be, especially for military members serving on long deployments overseas and are desperate for the attention of attractive women on social networking sites.
As a rule, soldiers should be suspicious of any “hot chicks” who befriend them on Facebook, or in the case of females “hot dudes” sending them friends requests who they do not know personally (see article: Social networking sites and the military http://www.examiner.com/article/social-networking-sites-and-the-military-what-you-need-to-know
See also: Digital espionage – are you at risk? http://www.examiner.com/article/digital-espionage-are-you-at-risk-1