Military Power

Terrorist Hackers

I am the proud mother of an active duty Marine and also a part of a great organization here in Ohio - Marine Corps Family Support Community. It is due to something that came to our attention at MCFSC that I am writing. It seems that some of our Marines are now receiving photographs of their family homes - many times with the family present in the photo - marked with Arabic words. This apparently is the newest form of terrorism against our military, and most of it is coming from terrorist "hackers" getting the Marine's personal info and that of his family from things innocently put on the Internet.

Our group formerly had photos of our Marines in an honor gallery. Most of these photos had info about the Marine and his/her family. We have now deleted this information from our site, but I wonder how many others there might be out there. I thought that your newsletter might be a good way to inform a vast number of Marines and their families. I would even go so far as to advise that any Marine or his/her family member consider changing their e-mail addresses if their address includes an "identifying" factor within the address. (ie: last names, city of origin, etc.) Many of the families within our group have already considered this threat to some extent and are very careful to not include last names, stations, etc in their e-mails to or about their Marine; but many of these same families had not considered the fact that their last name is very evident within their e-mail address!

It is unfortunate that we PROUD families have to consider these things and must to some extent "curb our enthusiasm" for our Marine, but their safety is (as it should be) our first priority! If our Marines are distracted by their concern for their families, this could mean the difference between life and death for them. I believe there was a quote from a Marine Wife recently in one of your newsletters about "loose lips sinking ships", well we as the extended family of a Marine must make this our mantra too!

Marines regardless of their "security" potential, should consider deleting any and all specific identification information on web sites such as MySpace or Facebook, etc. The info that MCFSC received indicated that these type of sites are where these terrorists are getting a lot of their information.

Again, use this letter only if you feel it appropriate. I'd appreciate it, if you use it, if you would edit any reference to my full name from the "byline". You can sign me,

A Concerned Marine Mom

Thanks!

It is unfortunate that we PROUD families have to consider these things and must to some extent "curb our enthusiasm" for our Marine