Intelligence agencies are warning their staffers about keeping safe on Facebook, Twitter and other social media sites following the massive theft of government personnel files.
The Office of the Director of National Intelligence released two videos and a poster on Friday as part of an effort to keep intelligence agency staffers secure from foreign spies.
{mosads}“Others can use your personal information to deceive you and seem untrustworthy,” the spy office said in the new poster.
“Your personal information: Protect it from exploitation,” it added.
“Maximize your social media privacy settings. ‘Friend’ only those you know and trust.”
The poster was released along with two YouTube videos.
One shows a man presumably working at an intelligence agency who unknowingly passes information along to a “foreign intel ops center” by looking for a new job on Facebook. Another encourages intelligence officials to protect themselves from “social media deception.”
Release of the videos underscores the widespread fallout that officials fear from the hack at the Office of Personnel Management, which affected more than 22 million people. The stolen documents include background check information, as well as millions of fingerprints, Social Security numbers, employment history and other information.
Officials have feared that those stolen records could be a gold mine for foreign intelligence agencies looking to discretely nab information from unsuspecting American officials.
China is believed to be the source of the hack.
The intelligence office videos released on Friday is the second installment in its efforts to beef up officials’ security precautions. Previous videos focused on protecting against “spear phishing” attacks, while subsequent ones will relate to human targeting and warnings for travelers, it said.