Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Data Breach Exposes Thousands of Job Seekers Citing Top Secret Government Work

gizmodo.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

31–37 of 37 posts

Re: Data Breach Exposes Thousands of Job Seekers Citing Top Secret Government Work

#31

Post by DonHopkins »

mirimir wrote: post #27
andy_ppp wrote: post #3

If you are a spook I wonder how you give references? And if you’ve done anything good you can’t write it on your CV without breaking the law.

After publication of the first few NSA documents via Snowden, people searched Linked In for keywords like XKeyscore. And found users who had cited them in work history. Security by obscurity?

They should add another layer of security by using embarrassing code names like YummyDookieChomper and IBeatMyWife, to discourage people from using them in their resumes or casual conversations.

Re: Data Breach Exposes Thousands of Job Seekers Citing Top Secret Government Work

#32

Post by user5994461 »

badlucklottery wrote: post #8
andy_ppp wrote: post #3

If you are a spook I wonder how you give references? And if you’ve done anything good you can’t write it on your CV without breaking the law.

If you're getting another job in intel, you send the references over email on a secure network. If you're leaving the intel community, chances are your references are really pertinent. All the "I can't say" responses will derail a lot of interviewers though.

>>> All the "I can't say" responses will derail a lot of interviewers though.

Not so sure about that.

The majority of interviews in the HN bubbles is hours of technical questions and quizzes, where the interviewers will not ask a single question about your resume.

Outside of this bubble, the more mature interviewers, who did hundreds and hundreds of interviewers, are not moved by a "This is confidential... I could talk about -other thing- instead".

Re: Data Breach Exposes Thousands of Job Seekers Citing Top Secret Government Work

#33

Post by leggomylibro »

warent wrote: post #11
leggomylibro wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Close, but not quite how it works - there's actually a series of documentaries about the practice of retiring spies called The Prisoner. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Prisoner

I'm not sure those are documentaries so much as fiction. Not to say it's inaccurate storytelling, but it's definitely not a documentary

Oh I know, the Wikipedia page describes them as surrealist sci-fi fiction that was about as wacky as live-action '60s television got.

But I like calling random TV shows and movies 'documentaries.' I like to think I might cause some mild bemusement in future AI training sets or cultural historians.

Re: Data Breach Exposes Thousands of Job Seekers Citing Top Secret Government Work

#34

Post by mirimir »

DonHopkins wrote: post #31
mirimir wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

After publication of the first few NSA documents via Snowden, people searched Linked In for keywords like XKeyscore. And found users who had cited them in work history. Security by obscurity?

They should add another layer of security by using embarrassing code names like YummyDookieChomper and IBeatMyWife, to discourage people from using them in their resumes or casual conversations.

Well, until Snowden's dump, stuff like XKeyscore must have seemed enigmatic enough. I mean, I doubt that people disclosed that they'd worked or consulted with the NSA, or NSA contractors. So only people who had would have known what those acronyms / code words meant. Rather like a secret handshake or whatever.

Re: Data Breach Exposes Thousands of Job Seekers Citing Top Secret Government Work

#35

Post by secfirstmd »

mirimir wrote: post #34
DonHopkins wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They should add another layer of security by using embarrassing code names like YummyDookieChomper and IBeatMyWife, to discourage people from using them in their resumes or casual conversations.

Well, until Snowden's dump, stuff like XKeyscore must have seemed enigmatic enough. I mean, I doubt that people disclosed that they'd worked or consulted with the NSA, or NSA contractors. So only people who had would have known what those acronyms / code words meant. Rather like a secret handshake or whatever.

I thought the codewords were classified themselves? Never understood how people put them on Linkedin

Re: Data Breach Exposes Thousands of Job Seekers Citing Top Secret Government Work

#36

Post by mirimir »

secfirstmd wrote: post #35
mirimir wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, until Snowden's dump, stuff like XKeyscore must have seemed enigmatic enough. I mean, I doubt that people disclosed that they'd worked or consulted with the NSA, or NSA contractors. So only people who had would have known what those acronyms / code words meant. Rather like a secret handshake or whatever.

I thought the codewords were classified themselves? Never understood how people put them on Linkedin

I would have thought so too. People get sloppy, I guess.

For example, from WWII: http://weaponsman.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/OPSEC-grunt...

Re: Data Breach Exposes Thousands of Job Seekers Citing Top Secret Government Work

#37

Post by willstrafach »

zie wrote: post #2

Putting top secret anything on the Internet seems like the opposite of a good idea.

CVs like these are sanitized to only contain unclassified ingormation regarding otherwise classified work. So the problem here is not classified information leaks, it would be better ability to target certain folks based on their work (Although honestly, many folks who have done classified work seem to not use much discretion when setting up LinkedIn profiles).
Post reply on HN