3 ms·

True, this OPM hack might have a huge national security impact.

by in3d 11y ago

DanielBMarkham 11y ago
Does anybody need to restate the obvious: Go through the OPM leak and cross-check everybody with TS-SCI clearance with the AM database. Bingo-presto, big list of folks you can blackmail to do government favors. Take about 2 minutes.
- simoncion 11y ago
  If you're blackmailable, or financially in dire straits, you should not hold a TS clearance. Seriously. End of story. If someone with a TS clearance ever has someone attempt to blackmail them, they're obligated to tell their boss and security officer(s).
  - mikeash 11y ago
    It's a good thing the process for deciding who gets a clearance is completely foolproof....
    - simoncion 11y ago
      Part of what makes the system work as well as it does is honesty. Honesty and integrity are two of the things that the clearance interviews look for.
  - Balgair 11y ago
    True, but giving the gov your blackmail file and giving your kid's nosy 3rd grade school teacher your blackmail file are different things. It is not difficult to imagine a person with a TS using AM, telling their boss about 'that one time' or not even worrying to tell them, having their OPM data flung to outer Bongolia, and then having this AM data bounced about. Though people should be better about updating their blackmail files at HQ.gov, they are not. These hacks in conjunction are really going to make a mess of things going forward. If you were thinking of giving the gov your blackmail file, you may be rethinking that info, as it seems to uninformed people (which are most of us on HN) that you may be better at keeping your personal secrets than the gov is. A chilling effect indeed.
    - simoncion 11y ago
      > True, but giving the gov your blackmail file ... You misunderstand me. If you're blackmailable, you shouldn't be holding a TS clearance. If you're granted a TS, and later become blackmailable, you really should have your clearance revoked.
      - Balgair 11y ago
        But, if the gov has your blackmail file, then you are by definition not able to be blackmailed. What am I missing?
        simoncion 11y ago
        That's not quite it. Blackmail is possible when one has a secret that one really does not revealed to some set of parties. If you reveal that secret to your employer, but still fear its disclosure to other parties, then you are still blackmailable. If you don't fear the disclosure of the personal secrets you've revealed to your government employer, then you also don't particularly care about your government employer's systems getting breached and revealing those secrets to the world. Might you be mad as hell at the incompetence? Sure! But your risk of blackmail is not increased because of the disclosure because you weren't blackmailable to begin with. Make sense?
- TeMPOraL 11y ago
  Cool thing about public dump: you can't be blackmailed via something everybody knows already. If you're a victin of the AM disclosure and have TS clearance, it's in your best interest to come clean and not try to bury that information.
  - mikeash 11y ago
    "Public" doesn't mean "everybody knows." And while coming clean to your spouse may be the best move, it's also a really difficult one to make. There will be plenty of people with a clearance who won't preempt it like this.
- walshemj 11y ago
  Don't you think trying to blackmail say a SAD operator might end up badly in a Mozambique drill type of way. "why yes officer Dibble the perp made a suspicious cross body movement :-) "

True, this OPM hack might have a huge national security impact.

by in3d 11y ago

True, this OPM hack might have a huge national security impact.

Does anybody need to restate the obvious: Go through the OPM leak and cross-check everybody with TS-SCI clearance with the AM database. Bingo-presto, big list of folks you can blackmail to do government favors. Take about 2 minutes.

simoncion 11y ago
If you're blackmailable, or financially in dire straits, you should not hold a TS clearance. Seriously. End of story. If someone with a TS clearance ever has someone attempt to blackmail them, they're obligated to tell their boss and security officer(s).
- mikeash 11y ago
  It's a good thing the process for deciding who gets a clearance is completely foolproof....
  - simoncion 11y ago
    Part of what makes the system work as well as it does is honesty. Honesty and integrity are two of the things that the clearance interviews look for.
- Balgair 11y ago
  True, but giving the gov your blackmail file and giving your kid's nosy 3rd grade school teacher your blackmail file are different things. It is not difficult to imagine a person with a TS using AM, telling their boss about 'that one time' or not even worrying to tell them, having their OPM data flung to outer Bongolia, and then having this AM data bounced about. Though people should be better about updating their blackmail files at HQ.gov, they are not. These hacks in conjunction are really going to make a mess of things going forward. If you were thinking of giving the gov your blackmail file, you may be rethinking that info, as it seems to uninformed people (which are most of us on HN) that you may be better at keeping your personal secrets than the gov is. A chilling effect indeed.
  - simoncion 11y ago
    > True, but giving the gov your blackmail file ... You misunderstand me. If you're blackmailable, you shouldn't be holding a TS clearance. If you're granted a TS, and later become blackmailable, you really should have your clearance revoked.
    - Balgair 11y ago
      But, if the gov has your blackmail file, then you are by definition not able to be blackmailed. What am I missing?
      - simoncion 11y ago
        That's not quite it. Blackmail is possible when one has a secret that one really does not revealed to some set of parties. If you reveal that secret to your employer, but still fear its disclosure to other parties, then you are still blackmailable. If you don't fear the disclosure of the personal secrets you've revealed to your government employer, then you also don't particularly care about your government employer's systems getting breached and revealing those secrets to the world. Might you be mad as hell at the incompetence? Sure! But your risk of blackmail is not increased because of the disclosure because you weren't blackmailable to begin with. Make sense?
TeMPOraL 11y ago
Cool thing about public dump: you can't be blackmailed via something everybody knows already. If you're a victin of the AM disclosure and have TS clearance, it's in your best interest to come clean and not try to bury that information.
- mikeash 11y ago
  "Public" doesn't mean "everybody knows." And while coming clean to your spouse may be the best move, it's also a really difficult one to make. There will be plenty of people with a clearance who won't preempt it like this.
walshemj 11y ago
Don't you think trying to blackmail say a SAD operator might end up badly in a Mozambique drill type of way. "why yes officer Dibble the perp made a suspicious cross body movement :-) "