The Navy is telling sailors to lock down their phones and social media accounts as online threats increase during the current conflict with Iran. Officials said that “adversary cyber actors” are increasingly targeting sailors online with a wide range of hack attempts and psychological operations.
The message even says to “beware” of dating apps that share too much personal information.
The April 17 Navy-wide notice recommended that Navy personnel set their accounts to the “highest level” of privacy on social media, turn off their phone’s location tracking, microphone, and camera use, and scrub search engines like Google of personal information.
“In response to Operation Epic Fury, adversary cyber actors are conducting a social engineering campaign actively targeting Department of the Navy (DON) personnel and their families via spear phishing and social media contacts. These actors seek to psychologically influence DON personnel and their families, and also seek to trick personnel into clicking on/opening potentially malicious links and files,” officials wrote in the NAVADMIN.
The advisory follows a number of cyber-related incidents in and around military forces in the Middle East.
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In March, a message that appeared to be official guidance from U.S. Cyber Command circulated among military channels that appeared to say that several commercial apps and online services in the Middle East had been compromised amid ongoing Epic Fury operations against Iran. The purported CYBERCOM message also warned troops to turn off location services. But officials said that the command did not send that message, leaving its origins unclear.
The warning also comes after the location of an aircraft carrier in the Middle East was compromised when a French sailor logged his daily run in the Strava fitness app.
Department of Defense policies limit troops from conducting official military business on personal devices and each of the services have rules that dictate when they can be used on base. For instance, cell phones and electronics are off limits in Sensitive Compartmented Information Facilities, also known as SCIFs. But sailors on deployment are still allowed to carry their own personal cell phones onto warships and aircraft carriers.
In its new notice, Navy officials told sailors to turn off Bluetooth and WiFi connections when they’re not using their devices and limit how their phones use location tracking, cameras, microphones, and texts. Even more specifically, Naval Criminal Investigative Service officials recommended that sailors who use Google search should remove personal identifiable information tracking or use alternative websites.
The Navy also said sailors should “beware of dating or other apps that encourage or require the use/sharing of personal information.”
Though so-called “honey pot” operations often target dating apps, the latest Navy notice warns sailors to research a dating app’s less sexy but equally important details, like data sharing policies, company ownership, and security practices.
While posting on social media is often a fraught topic among active duty troops, Navy officials told sailors to put their privacy settings on the “highest level,” and limit who can view their profiles and contact them. Sailors should “be wary” and “research strangers” who are sending messages or friend requests, officials said.
While the Navy directed sailors to pause or limit posting on social media while deployed, if they do, sailors should “be mindful” about the content of their photos.
“Does the background of your pictures include clues about you, your friends/family, your home, your location, your activities?” officials wrote.
