THE VIDEO SHELF · operational security
Black Hat 2013 - OPSEC Failures of Spies
Matthew Cole's Black Hat 2013 talk on operational security failures by CIA operatives. It covers the Abu Omar case and how sloppy tradecraft with cell phones exposed officers through call records and metadata.
Why HN readers recommended it
HN commenters cite it as a compelling demonstration that metadata identifies people, and as a great watch on sloppy CIA tradecraft.
This is a summary from the source dataset, not an endorsement by Hacker News or the video creator.
Video & recommendation details
- Creator / channel
- HackersOnBoard
- Topic
- operational security
- Format
- talk
- Level
- general
- HN recommenders in dataset
- 2
- HN mentions in dataset
- 4
- Recommendation years in dataset
- 2014–2019
These counts and years describe the included Hacker News records; they are not YouTube views or the video’s publication date.
From the original HN conversations
Excerpts from the recorded comments. Follow each source for the full comment and surrounding discussion.
> Call Detail Records Don’t Actually Identify People This is one of the best videos I have ever seen countering this argument. [VIDEO]
_nullandnull_ on Hacker News · 2014-10
In Troubling Arguments from the Government in Smith v. Obamawho could forget the Abu Omar Case, where the CIA kidnapped an individual in Milan. but they left evidence due to sloppy OPSEC. so we know for sure they used to do much worse. I guess most spying activities don't warrant such a detailed investigation …
guitarbill on Hacker News · 2019-08
In Why the CIA Doesn't Spy on the UAE
Summaries, classifications and recommendation records are from the HackerTube source dataset. Read about this library and its limitations.
