Nick Chernoff is an expert in open source intelligence (OSINT) and regularly trains police and three letter government agencies around the world how to use OSINT and how to protect themselves.
This is episode is a real eye opener and jam packed with valuable information for anyone wanting to protect themselves online. The techniques discussed here can save you from criminal activity or personal injury.
Make sure to share this with your friends and loved ones.
Some links referenced in this podcast are provided below for your reference. If you have any others you feel we should add, let us know:
https://inteltechniques.com
https://haveibeenpwned.com
https://pimeyes.com/en
https://yandex.com
https://www.familytreenow.com
https://justice.gov.bc.ca/cso/esearch/esearchHome.do
https://map.snapchat.com
https://33mail.com
https://getconfide.com
https://signal.org/en/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cicada_3301
Nick Chernoff on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nick-chernoff-308838aa/
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The Silvercore Podcast explores the mindset and skills that build capable people. Host Travis Bader speaks with hunters, adventurers, soldiers, athletes, craftsmen, and founders about competence, integrity, and the pursuit of mastery, in the wild and in daily life. Hit follow and step into conversations that sharpen your edge.
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I'm Travis Bader,
and this is the
Silvercore podcast.
Join me as I discuss
matters related to
hunting, fishing, and
outdoor pursuits with the
people in businesses that
comprise the community.
If you're a new to
Silvercore, be sure to
check out our website,
www.silvercore.ca where
you can learn more about
courses, services and
products that we offer
as well as how you can
join the silver Corp
club, which includes 10
million in north America,
wide liability insurance,
which sure you are
properly covered during
your outdoor adventures.
It previous episodes
at the Silvercore
podcast, we've talked
about situational
awareness and how to
safely comport yourself
in everyday life.
Today.
We're delving
into the world of
cybersecurity and open
source intelligence.
Welcome to the
Silvercore Podcast.
Nick Chernoff Travis.
Thanks for having me.
It's a pleasure.
So open source Intel.
First off, what is that?
And can you give
us a little bit of
background that you
have on the subject?
Yeah, absolutely.
It's a good question.
So, uh, open source
intelligence is
essentially, uh,
openly, publicly
available information.
If you're on social
media, if you're writing
on blogs, blogs, anything
online that we can gather
from just a basic, even
Google search, social
media search that is
in the realm of open
source intelligence.
And, and, uh, we
are doing that
every single day.
You know, for those of
you on social media,
when you go and look up
a friend, significant
other, maybe someone
you're diving to get
into a relationship
with you are going
to find them and find
their open li publicly
available information.
So, uh, it's a bit more
of that and not just
social media and, and,
you know, looking forward
to talking with that
throughout today, uh,
about my background,
I've been in the world
of school safety for
about a decade, uh,
just over 10 years.
Um, Privileged to
be in this field at
such a young age.
And, um, I've been
able to travel north
America and presenting
to law enforcement
school districts, uh,
certain three-letter
agencies in the states,
uh, regarding this
topic and specifically
school safety.
Uh, so how do we
gather openly publicly
information and identify
worrisome behavior,
uh, to help protect
schools, uh, as well,
I've also an eight year
member with the Canadian
forces and the more of
the reserve component
with the Seaforth
Highlanders of Canada.
So in infantry,
right?
Yeah.
You got the shirt
on, there could
be gone, right.
Always
representing, of
course, of course.
So, you know, I've,
I've got a very limited
background in open-source
intelligence, just
in, you know, when
we're hiring people
on, we're going to be
taking a look at their
social media profile.
Uh, I'll go on to
in British Columbia,
we've got court
services online.
I'll take a look through
there to see what
kind of background I
can find if there's.
Uh, a criminal history or
a history of, uh, civil
actions against somebody.
And, uh, we've a
BC online as well.
And I can kind of pick
around a little bit,
but that's about the
extent of the sort of
open source intelligence
set that I'm privy to.
Uh, what do you
usually do?
Yeah.
You know, that's, that's
all great things that
we can use and you bring
up actually, some, some
good points because
we are now seeing,
uh, many employees.
Figuring out, you
know, they'll look at
a paper, copy, resume.
I come apply
for silver Corp.
You're going to
see my background.
You're going to
see my history.
It's all things that I've
curated for your job, but
what am I doing online?
That's going to
represent myself and
your organization.
And those are great
things that I think many
organizations should do.
How are you being
represented online?
But you know, when
we are gathering open
source intelligence,
we are monitoring
and identifying every
social media aspect.
We're not just
going in and finding
someone's Instagram
account or someone's
Facebook account.
It's every little detail.
You know, when, when,
uh, because of a part
of my role is, is when a
school shooting happens
and I've been at the
forefront investigating
many high profile acts
of violence at schools
across north America.
We are digging into
that killer's life when,
when they shoot up.
And we are monitoring
all aspects.
So, uh, at our kind of
command center within our
office, we have multiple
TVs, every single social
media account available.
There are ways to
actually go behind the
scenes and manipulate,
uh, you know, and, and
find information even
down to, if I have your
phone number, if I have
your email address, I can
find a majority of your
social media accounts
that are linked to you.
And it's quite
fascinating because
when I am training
law enforcement and,
and school district
professionals, we have
them create social
media accounts for
doing their searching.
Right.
We always tell them,
you know, never searched
for somebody using
your personal accounts
and, and they don't
even think about.
Well, I'm going to
download, you know, an
application like Snapchat
on my phone and somebody
law enforcement members
that are doing that.
If I have your phone
number, all I have
to do is some certain
techniques right now.
No, all your, your
covert type accounts
and you're going to
be burned like that.
Right.
Things to think about.
If I were to take a
photo right now on
my smartphone, right?
The smartphone that we
all have in front of us,
which I like to say is
for convenience rather
than for security, right?
If you want to be really
secure, go get a, go
get an old flip phone.
Don't put any
applications on it.
Just use it as
like a, uh, just a.
But when they're
downloading applications
and, and they're, they're
using these devices
to actually identify
worrisome behavior, they
don't really understand
that everything is
linked together.
If I have your email
address, well, I can
run it through certain
techniques online.
Uh, we call it a Boolean
search operators or,
or Google dorking
Google dorking you
haven't heard that.
I know the Boolean search
sometimes referred to
as, as Google hacking,
but I can take your email
address or what I know
about you and actually
find if your email has
been in a data breach,
which may actually, uh,
show me your passwords
to your accounts.
Interesting.
So there's many
things that we can
do outside of that.
Just the generic.
I'm going to see if
they're on Facebook
or on Instagram or
on social media.
So, so,
and just to be clear,
this is the whole.
Whole thing behind
this is that it is
open source, mean that
it's open to anybody.
The techniques that you
use could be used by
anybody out there more or
less.
Absolutely both the
good and the bad.
And that's kind of
why we know that.
And, and the biggest,
uh, cause I run a full
day or I'll help run, uh,
two days of training to
train law enforcement,
to school districts,
how to identify
worrisome behavior
through techniques that
we've, we're, we're
providing to them to
give them knowledge
and the tools to really
keep our kids safe and
our community safe.
And yeah, these tools can
be used by individuals
who are, you know,
trying to find an
ex-wife or an ex-husband.
Uh, and there's quite
invasive techniques.
If I'm a partner who,
who maybe is suspecting
you of cheating, I could
probably take your phone
right now because maybe
I know the password we're
comfortable with that.
But did you know that
through certain settings
on your phone, I can
actually determine just
by having your phone,
every place you've ever
been, how long you've
been in those places?
When I drove in today,
they keeps track of how
long it took me for my
drive time, how long
I was in certain it's
based on your special
on your iPhone, your
significant locations.
Um, that necessarily
isn't open source,
but you know, there's,
there's definitely
tools that people in the
wrong hands could use
for, for negative ways.
Well, okay.
So that would be
like iPhone or a
Google Android phone.
Like they both do that.
Right?
Of course.
It doesn't matter what.
Uh, would you suggest
to people that they go
in there and they turn
certain settings off?
Yeah.
I mean, even down
to, if, if you take a
photo from your phone
right now and you have
a certain setting on,
okay, I could be, I could
be, uh, an individual
out there saying,
Hey, I hope you're
having a great time.
You know, what are you
up to send me a photo?
And I'll share
a great story.
And I use this
during training.
There was a gentleman on
Craigslist, and this is
what I'm getting into.
What's known as metadata.
Think of data
within the data.
You take a picture
with your phone.
We see, and just focus
on the photo, but us
kind of, you know,
tech nerds and whatnot,
think about what's the
information behind it,
because it was taken
from a very smart phone.
So I could be like,
Hey Travis, you know,
you could be like,
I'm at my secret
hunting spot today.
I know, right.
Take, send me a photo.
Then I take your phone.
Uploaded into a metadata
viewer, which gives
me the exact phone.
You've used the date
and timestamp and
possibly GPS coordinates.
Right.
And so that's, that's
invasive, but that's all
information that is now
sent to me that I can
gather your now note now,
hunting spot that they
made, you kept secret
for the longest time.
And we don't understand
that with every piece
of information that
we send out there,
we're giving data
within that and yeah,
go into your location
settings on your phone.
There's a going to be an
app on there that says
camera and beside that.
So if you go to settings
privacy and then
location services on
your iPhone, within your
location services, you
see every app that's
using your location
right beside that.
You're going to,
and I want you to
focus on the camera.
If the camera says never,
it means, well, it's
never embedding your
GPS coordinates if it
says while using well,
pretty much every photo
that you take, you embed
your GPS, coordinates
you, go on your.
And the gallery
on your phone.
There's a section
that says places and
it's, it's a map that
pinpoints where the
photos were taken.
That's great.
However, I always think
of things about, okay.
What if that is a lot
of information that
we're giving out?
It's cool to know, but
it's kind of scary.
I like, I use the, the
hunting analogy because
I will specifically
go in and screenshot
my photos because I'm
so paranoid at times.
So it was sending a
picture out, like, did
I, did I remember to take
my location services off?
Am I sending them
something that's going to
have the, uh, the geotag
associated with it?
So I'll take a picture.
I'll screenshot the
picture, I'll crop
down, and then I'll
send that spec crop
picture over it.
I love that.
You're still going to
give little metadata on
the type of phone you've
used and maybe the time
of screenshot, but, you
know, I was going back.
I was going to share
this story during
training and it was a,
it was a, uh, uh, law
enforcement type file.
I worked with both, uh,
law enforcements, um,
uh, north and south of
the border in Canada,
in the states, uh, some
over in the UK as well,
due to certain issues
that are happening, but
there was a gentleman.
And when you upload
photos on, on your
social media, It is
good that social media
strips this metadata
for the public, for the
pup, for the public.
Right.
So I can't go to
your, you know, and,
and for those of you
celebrating, um, uh,
you know, different
holidays or whatnot, if
you could take a photo
when you're having your
Thanksgiving or Easter
dinner and you upload
it to social media, I
can't take that photo
and figure out where
you had that dinner.
So it strips the
metadata, which is great.
There was a gentleman
on Craigslist, okay.
He was selling
his motorcycle.
And if you kind of
know a bit about, uh,
human behavior and
social engineering
and how to manipulate
people, it's quite
easy to unfortunately
take advantage of
individuals who just
don't understand that
what is going on behind
the scenes, a gentlemen
gets a message from
someone else inquiring
on his motorcycle.
So a guy was on, on
Craigslist, searching
for motorcycles.
This guy gets a message
saying, Hey, I love
your motorcycle.
I'm very.
I'm very interested,
but I'm not going
to waste your time.
I'm not going to
waste my time.
I'm only going to those
motorcycles that I am.
Uh, I'm interested
in buying the only
reason I'm messing you.
This is because when
I zoom into your photo
on Craigslist, I swear
there's a scratch
on your gas tank.
The guy's like,
absolutely not.
And you know, when
you're just wanting
to sell something, you
want to get rid of it
at any anyone who's
at you take advantage
of, of human behavior
with, wow, someone's
interested in this.
I can sell it.
I can make some money.
You know?
So the gentleman says
there's no scratch.
Okay, fine.
You know what?
Just prove to me,
here's my phone number.
Can you go down to
your motorcycle in
your garage right now?
And if you don't mind
doing that right now
and text me a photo.
So they've now gone
from Craigslist
Craigslist, actually
strips metadata to the
raw original format
between a smartphone,
which keeps metadata.
Of GPS settings,
unbeknownst to this
guy, just wanting to get
rid of his motorcycle.
He sends a
photo via text.
This gentlemen uploads
the photo into a metadata
viewer figures out where
this guy is selling.
It goes two nights
later and steals the
motorcycle because he
now has location based
on that image, right?
Just that easy.
It's that easy.
And it's, it's all
about, you know, uh, we
didn't grow up in this
world of technology
and social media.
We're playing catch-up a
lot of individuals will
be like, well, okay.
I don't know.
I just use Facebook.
I just use social media,
but they don't understand
there's way more out
there from the states
to even Canada, when I'm
searching for a killer
or understanding things
about, about what they've
done, the way that I
searched for somebody
in Canada is completely
different from even
the U S I I'm going to
challenge a lot of your
listeners right now.
Have you ever
Googled yourself on.
And maybe you put
in Travis Bader and
maybe you've just
done that, but using
certain because Google,
Google's very smart,
but it's quite lazy.
And I always like to
say that because if you
search for your first
and last name, Travis
Bader in Google, you're
going to find everyone
by the name of Travis
and everyone by the
name of Bader and not
necessarily just find
you the next time you
search for your name.
And this is
serial listeners.
Search your name in
quotation marks, right?
It actually narrows
down your search.
It tells Google.
I don't want to final
Travis's all beta, but
Travis Bader together.
Right?
Right.
And just little
techniques like that
through Boolean search
operators or, or Google
dorking techniques, I
can use Google dorking
to actually find open
wifi cameras within your
house, your ring camera.
If you don't change
your default password,
there's a possibility
that someone could
be accessing that if
you don't change your
passwords, every few.
It's not a matter of
if, but when something's
going to be breached
and your passwords are
available through, you
know, forums on the
dark web or, or, or
deep web, or just a
basic Google search.
So,
and he, can't where
you get, obviously
change your passwords.
Any router, you get
changed, a password
on it, you know, Travis,
you bring up a good
point with, you know, uh,
change your passwords.
And, and the biggest
question during my
training and, and I've,
I've trained everyone
from school to police to,
like I said, different
three-letter agencies.
And the big question is
like, I can't keep track
of all my passwords.
I use the same password
or a character off
for every other
account because I
can't remember them.
Right.
Invest in a
password, man.
Those are pretty safe
for one, for the most
part, I encourage you
to do some research.
Um, there's one called
keep pass X, C K.
It's a little bit more
advanced of a password
manager, but there are
some out there that of
course are not the best,
but I would encourage you
to do a bit of research.
You're also going to
learn just that much
more in a password
manager is essentially a
vault on your computer.
You then add all
your accounts, all
your passwords.
I have probably over
60 accounts and I
have a different
password for each one.
I don't want to
remember each one, but
I remember one password
to get in the door of
that password manager,
which then I forget my
password to this account.
I go in reminder,
bring it over, log
into my account.
It's a few extra
steps, but that is the
first step passwords.
Two factor
authentication.
Isn't huge.
It's huge.
Um, there's also
something that, that
has been going around
for a while called
SIM swapping, right?
Where the idea is I'll
find your password.
I will then understand
that you may have two
factor authentication
on your phone.
I will then figure out
information about you.
Maybe that I'm finding
on your social media,
maybe that that's your,
and I always like to
say, you're only as
strong as the weakest
link within your friend
network on social media.
So I may not be able
to find information
on you, Travis, but
do your spouse, kids,
whatever people that are
close to you, are they
putting out information?
That's telling
things about you
that I can gather.
Right?
Think of, think of
down to the questions
that you could ask
for your banking.
What's your mother's
maiden name?
What's the street
you live on?
I never used my
right answer.
No, no, I don't
think
anybody should.
No one should, but change
it something different
and don't have it on
things that we can
find on social media.
But, but going back
to SIM swapping is the
idea where I now find
information on you.
I know your phone number.
I then maybe we'll call
your cell phone provider,
pretending I'm you I'll
answer questions that I'm
finding from your social
media and say, Hey, I
need to swap out my.
Then that two factor
authentication code.
Right.
Right.
And this is happening
all over it.
And it, um, it's crazy
how many, uh, young kids
are knowing about this.
What about SIM spoofing?
That should be pretty
straightforward.
I guess if you have
the, uh, the technology.
Yeah.
And like I said, anything
is vulnerable through,
through, um, through,
you know, manipulating
your, um, your location
through various apps.
Right?
Right.
I can go and download
a location, spoofing
app and make it like
I'm somewhere else
around the world.
That's why it's important
that you may not care
about your, your online
security, because AI, I
don't have Facebook, but
you have a smartphone,
you have email, you
have other things.
And, and there's some
folks out there who
have a lot of sensitive
information on there.
Are you changing
your email regularly?
And that's something
that I always encourage,
you know, organizations
that do have it in a
requirement every few
months to be like,
this is mandatory
of you changing
your email address,
address or password.
Sorry.
Good question.
Or clarifying password.
Okay.
By the way, here's
my new, uh, here's
my new email address
every like few months.
No, that'd be
that's too much.
That's yeah.
So know your, your,
your password.
And this is something
I do with my own
family because my
grandparents, uh, bless
them, bless their heart.
96 years old.
Uh, Mike, both my grandma
and grandfather, uh, and
they live on their own.
My grandpa is obsessed
with investing.
He loves his email.
That's his main way
of communication.
And, and I said, well,
they may not care about
it, but they're online.
And, and I give
you a story.
I was with my grandfather
a few weeks ago.
They live, they live in
Winnipeg here in Canada.
And I, uh, he, he told
me he got a call from,
uh, apple, right?
He doesn't use an
apple computer.
It's so it's so funny.
Cause my, my grandma has
an Android phone that she
calls her, her iPhone.
It's not it's it's
anyways, I just let
her do her thing.
But you know, 96 years
old, my grandma's
texting me every day,
works the iPhone.
Exactly.
And my grandfather was
online and he goes, Nick,
you know what you just
told me and share with
me about online security
actually saved me.
And I got a call one day
from a, they said they
were from apple and they
said they need remote
access to my computer
because they had,
they detected a virus.
And I said, well,
what do you do.
I hung up and I
say, that's fine.
And then what did you
do after he goes, I went
to the apple website
and called the support
number on the website
and he, wasn't afraid
to just hang up and be
like, and I, and that's,
that's important, right?
Sometimes we want to be
nice on the phone and
be like, oh yeah, you
knew where I got a call.
I had one of the best
scams ever from actually.
It was after I got my,
uh, my wifi put in at
my house from Telus.
Right.
And so the guy
puts my wifi in.
He, he says that
he's had everything
set up and he goes,
Hey, you know, we're
just doing a survey.
You'll you might get
a call in a few days
just to see how it was.
And, you know,
give me, give me a
five-star rating.
And I was like, well,
you did a good job.
So a few days later,
I'm, I'm distracted.
I'm still kind of moving.
And, uh, I get a
message from Telus.
It's like, this is
an automated message.
We want to let you
know that you will
be receiving a call
shortly from Telus on
the experience that
you just had setting
up your home internet.
I was like, cool.
Yeah, I'm expecting it.
Yeah.
So I pull over and I
wait for the call within
five minutes clockwork.
I got.
Hi, is this, uh, you
know, Nicholas, we
understand that you just
had your, your, um, wifi
put into your house.
We just want to ask you
just want to clarify
exactly that we are
talking to you before we
go through the survey.
I was like, oh
yeah, no problem.
I'm busy.
I just read it.
And so I'm, I'm
distracted and they
go, can you, can you
just confirm your
first and last name?
And I'm like this, and
they're like, can you
confirm your email?
And I'm like this,
and they're asking me
a few more questions
that they would have
anyways, on file.
And then they're like,
can you just confirm
your social and or
social security number?
I was like, I
started laughing.
I was like, you
guys, this is good.
You guys did good.
This is a good scam,
but this is what's
going to happen.
I'm going to hang
up right now.
I'm going to call back.
And the lady's like,
yeah, no problem.
We totally understand
taking your security.
Uh, and she just
kind of went with it.
I was like, and a lot of
people would be like, oh,
you, you seem so nice.
Cause you know,
people will hang up
your spam callers.
Right.
They'll hang up once
they understand that
it's a scam, but anyone
else who's not thinking
about that in busy moving
would just be like, Okay.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Let's catch it.
Okay.
Let's just carry on.
Yeah.
Awareness.
Right.
We got to educate those
who are not grown up in
this world, but, but,
uh, but use devices.
Right?
So that awareness, like
you're saying, okay.
Let's say I'm
really cyber aware.
Right?
I've got a good sense
about my passwords.
And you've talked about
passwords prior to the,
uh, like key chain and
these different volts and
things coming into play.
I would just use an
algorithm, just a simple
algorithm that I can
remember in my head
that would work off of
whatever the application
that I'm I'm using.
And I just do add digits,
add letters, front and
back, change digits
and delighters around.
I just know, like, if I'm
logging into, let's say
Gmail, that's going to
have a certain password.
So if anyone figured
out my algorithm, all
right, then I've done
all my passwords.
Say that.
Right.
And you make it,
you make a few good
points because yeah.
Um, create your own
little algorithm.
Don't, don't use
your pet's names,
your kids' names,
something that will
bring it back to you.
If you're going to put
a zero, maybe change
it with an O upper
case, lower case,
things like that.
And, and it's important
that you are changing
your passwords and I'll,
I'll share something that
actually happened to a
close friend of mine.
She gets.
And she actually
was an email.
It was sent to her via
email and it said, you
don't know who I am, but
I know you, and I know
your password is this.
And they actually put
her real password.
So she's like, what?
Yeah.
And then the rest of
the letter says, and it
was actually, um, and
I'll explain where it
came from in a second,
but it kind of said, we
have been watching you
through your camera.
We know what
you were doing.
Right.
We have videoed
everything and she's
like starting to sweat.
She's trying to think
that I did, I do anything
in front of my camera.
I shouldn't be doing,
but they have my password
and it's a well drafted.
Email.
Yeah, I got a call right
away and I said, she
says, Nick, I need help.
Uh, someone hacked
into my accounts, they
hacked into my camera,
they have my password.
I said, let me guess
they said that they
were watching you
and filming you.
And, and they, and it
kind of goes into like,
we know that you were
on some pornographic
websites and we play on
people's darkest fears.
Right.
I don't know if any
of you are, if you've
heard or watched the
episode on black mirror,
there is an identical
there's identical
episode of that.
And people were
just copying that.
Exactly.
But it was her password.
So how do they get it?
It's because she had
her password for years.
It was in a known
data breach and.
She didn't know about it.
I always encourage people
to go to a website called
have I been poned P w N E
D check for data breaches
or another website called
monitor.firefox.com.
Or you actually put in
your email in, and it'll
notify you when a known
data breach has happened.
You know, things
like that.
How do you set up,
how do you set up
certain ability?
Because, um, you need to
protect your own self.
Right?
And I have, I have
these, you know, cause
my mom, my dad, my
sister, they care only
because I care, they
don't maybe really care.
So, you know, I have to
set things up in their
behalf and be like, all
right, mom, dad, we got
to change your passwords.
Like there's been
a breach here.
And they're like, okay.
Yeah, we'll set it up.
And I said, please
just don't, don't just
change one character
off your password, like
create a good password.
So yeah, just little
things like that.
But you know, I, I,
when it gets into the
whole world of open
source intelligence and
I, I think I told you
this story, there's.
Uh, a forum online and
many of the Chan boards
like four Chan or eight,
eight Chan, which is
now eight con right.
Um, is a lot of, of,
of time on people's
hands and, and through
Reddit as well.
Right.
It's a great source of
actually, if, if, if
you're ever interested
in, in learning more
about, oh, scent open
source intelligence,
go check out the,
the, the, um, uh, on
Reddit, there's you
just subscribe to,
to . And it actually
shares with techniques,
all these things, which
are quite easy to do.
Interesting.
But there was a story
how, um, uh, and it
actually, if, if it's
from, you know, Shyla
buff, Shyla buff.
So this is back when,
when Trump was kind of
getting into politics
and, and before he
came presidents and,
um, what Charlotte
did is he has a sign.
It said, um, he
will not divide us.
And he takes this sign,
which is essentially
just a flag and he
puts it up in the sky.
And he puts a live
stream camera on it.
Now, no one knows
where it is.
It's somewhere in
the United States.
It is literally in
a field somewhere
in the night in
the United States.
He puts this
flag in the sky.
Huge flagpole.
No one knows where it is.
He puts a livestream
camera on the flag and
all you see is a flag
and the sky, you see
clouds, passing planes,
passing, birds, passing.
That's it.
So how does a group
of individuals on
forums like Reddit
find that flag?
Well, how do we use
open source techniques?
Let's start by thinking
it's a live stream.
You watch the live
stream, which will
then narrow down
sunrise, sunset.
Right.
Okay.
So from your sunrise
and sunset on that live
stream, you're like,
oh, that's definitely
not west coast.
It's still super
sunny here.
It may be isn't central.
The sun, the sun is
still shining over here
or maybe it's gone.
And so they, they narrow
it down to, you know, uh,
one third of the United
States saying it's gotta
be on the east coast.
So just from that alone,
they've broken down where
it should be from there.
They're starting to
listen to sounds and
see things in the sky.
There's planes going by.
There's actually a cool
app on, uh, that you
can get it's called,
I believe flighty
there's many, there's
many apps that you
can actually monitor.
And, and this, this
is actually what I was
doing during the, during
the pandemic, because
all these flights being
halted from China and
everything, and I'm
still seeing flights
come in and it shows
you a live stream of
exactly every flight
that's in the air now.
So if you've ever looked
up in the sky and you're
like, oh, I wonder where
that flight is going.
There's an app for that.
You literally GPS
coordinates on your
phone and you're like
that app has, or that
plane is over top of me.
That that 7 47 is off to.
Or it's landing
in Vancouver.
So they actually had
people monitoring
the app and trying to
figure out, you know,
where, you know, flights
were coming, different
flight patterns, and
it's quite remarkable.
It's getting these
team together.
So they kind of narrow
down a certain area and
then they hear frogs
in the background and
they're like, okay,
it's not probably not.
Or a certain
type of insect.
And they're like, that
is that there's someone
down there is like,
oh, that's a native
insect to, to this area.
And so as they're
starting to narrow it
down, they actually get
a bunch of individuals
with their trucks.
Okay.
And they start driving
everyone from certain,
certain cities that they
live in that are, maybe
are close to where these
types of animals are.
They go and they start
to honk their horns.
So people on the live
stream, so people in the.
Oh, I, I heard you.
I heard you over
here and okay.
Everyone else be quiet
and it hot or cold.
And then they finally
narrow it down just by
everyone working together
and certain open source
techniques or certain
abilities, like, uh,
you know, monitoring
the flights and, and
there's quite a extensive
way that they were
able to work together
to find information.
Right.
And, and, and I, you
know, part of my role
within, within the
military, as well as
working with, um, uh,
influence activities and
psychological operations,
um, we have, there's
a great task force
here in, in Canada.
Um, and, and I, I work
on the, on the kind of
the, the west coast here,
but when I shared just
a basic presentation
about how vulnerable
police can be military
can be, um, and I share
a story where, um, uh,
there was a certain,
uh, force overseas and
this certain area, a
lot of the troops were,
you know, had time off.
So what would they do?
They'd, they'd buy
a phone from the.
That's the
first red flag.
If you, if you want
to buy a phone from
the area, like I'd
have the us or Canada
ship their own phones.
And maybe there's just
a lot of weird red
flags when I'm going to
a place that I'm, you
know, occupying and all
of a sudden I'm buying a
phone from there, right?
So that's a
few red flags.
And then these,
these, you know, 21,
22, 23 year olds,
what are they doing?
Well, I'm in, you know,
Eastern Europe, I'm
going to Ukraine pole
in Latvia where some
of our Canadian troops
are, and we're, I'm at
download Tinder, right.
I'm going to start
swiping and find,
you know, and, and
what were they doing?
The enemy was creating
fake Tinder profiles.
That's brilliant to
try to get information
from our troops cause
this hot blonde or
maybe another force
member is, is, is on.
And then they're
saying, oh yeah, like
where are you located?
You know, where
are you going next?
So we should, we
shouldn't beat up.
Oh my God, I'm
there as well too.
It's this catfish.
Right.
And that is, you know,
I even said, you know,
I even said, I showed
and this kind, kinda got
me in trouble a little
bit, but it woke a bunch
of people up where,
where, you know, some of
older individuals, they
were like, uh, I said
within five minutes,
I could probably bring
up a military member
and share with you
things about their life.
And they're like,
no, no, you can't,
you can't do that.
And of course in
the military here
in Canada, we don't
do any intelligence
or any gathering
on our own folks.
So I used a military
member as kind of
like a subject.
So I brought this
military member and I
said, um, this is, you
know what regimens he's
in his wife's pregnant.
This is his vehicle.
This is licensed play.
This is newborn.
Okay.
So here's the
other thing.
How can I use that from a
psychological standpoint?
Well, uh, maybe
I know he's done.
Right.
Okay.
And, and for me, I'm
a, uh, you know, I'm
somebody who, who just
wants it, wants them
to crash and burn.
So I have fake profiles.
What stopping me
while he's deployed.
He may not talk to his
wife for, you know,
a few weeks, maybe a
month, depending on what
he's doing, but what's
stopping me from maybe
messaging his wife while
he's gone from another
female fake account
I've created right.
Saying, Hey, um, I just
want to let you know
and introduce myself.
My name is so-and-so
me and my husband
and I we've been, you
know, having an affair
over the last a while.
I didn't understand
that he was married.
I thought I'd let you
know, even though I'm
falsifying this, but
I'm just gathering
information I found
in your social media.
Yeah.
What's going to happen
when he calls home.
She has all of this
anger and then they
can't be together.
And all of a sudden
it's a mind game.
Like I'm not cheating.
And she's like,
I got a cough.
I have the messages,
I have this.
And now all the
psychological mess up
in his mind while he's
halfway across the world
trying to do a job.
And he's out in the
battle space and he's
trying to defend, you
know, watch his buddy
six and all this.
He's distracted for
a second because
he's like, my wife's
probably mad at me.
She's going to leave
me, she, to me home.
Is she going to
find someone else?
And, and it's just, you
know, you're only as
strong as your weakest
link and these are
things that we need
to train our troops
before they go over.
Have you had a
conversation with your
wife about this, about
what could happen,
uh, about, about,
Hey, I love, you know,
I, I just came back
from Texas yesterday.
Right.
And I traveled to the
states once a week.
Right.
I'm I'm in an airplane
over a hundred, a
hundred, a hundred
flights a year, traveling
to the states all over.
I did a day trip to
Reno, Texas, back to
Reno or back to Texas
and I'll go, you know,
Chicago, Denver, and
that's a week for me.
Right.
A lot of air
miles, by the way.
So, yeah.
And actually I gave
him away actually
for Christmas a
few years ago.
That was like my
Christmas presents
in my family.
Wow.
But how are we having
a conversation about,
and I love, you know, I
love the state of Texas
and it's, it's awesome.
Right.
And so they're.
Proud military state.
And so you'll see a
lot of the times like
bumper stickers, maybe
the wafer or whatever,
driving saying, I'm a
proud, I'm a proud member
of a current deployed
us army, whatever.
And like, you're
just telling me
that your husband's
deployed right now.
And now you put a
bumpers, it's just
like putting into the
world of, uh, about
things about you.
So things that we
don't really kind
of think about,
right.
A little soccer bowl,
dangling from the
rear view mirror.
Exactly.
A little picture
of the family.
I helping your family.
Yeah.
Right.
Yeah.
I love that.
And, and these are
things that we need
to start to train, you
know, uh, I deal with
a lot of, uh, police
who are undercover.
Um, I have a certain,
uh, friend who is in
a certain three-letter
agency down in the
states who newly
retired, but he's,
he's been undercover
or he was undercover
for a very long time.
And he was sitting in
one of my classes and,
uh, He's at the very
back and he puts his
feet up on the desk and
it kind of leans back.
He's like, you want
me to search myself on
Google and online, man,
I've been undercover
for, you know, over a
decade longer than that.
And I said, you
don't think I can
find you online.
He's like, you're
not going to find me.
And so we had myself
and another analyst of
ours in the room and
I suite, and I said,
challenge accepted.
And so I didn't have
time then, but that
night I searched him
and I found out where
he used to live when he
was deep, undercover,
and different addresses
and phone numbers.
And so I sent it to him.
I said, Hey, you know,
he's now, you know,
shaved head bald.
And I said, Hey, I didn't
know, you lived here
during the eighties.
You know, what,
what does your hair
look like back then?
And he goes,
how did he know?
I lived there.
Because it was a
challenge and I wanted
to find information on
you cause it was out
there and there in the
states, there's a huge
database of people,
search engines, right.
That are pretty robust.
They are down to
where you live, right.
There's a website that,
that if you want to
search yourself, if
you're from the states,
mainly US-based website,
it's called Spokio right.
Many websites like that,
you know, um, family
tree now.com uh, all
these other things.
And, and there's
information about you,
even though you may
not be on social media.
So we need to train our
law enforcement who are,
who are deep, undercover,
because guess what, if I
identify who you are, I'm
going to find information
that may be blow your
undercover, or it
could be just a generic
general duty officer.
You could have your
name badge right here.
You could pull me over
and I could be like, oh,
officer so-and-so right.
I could grab
your last name.
What's stopping me
then from searching
you online.
And the next time you
pull me over, I go,
oh, officer so-and-so.
I understand your,
your kid goes to
school down the street.
Oh, your wife,
wife works here.
You really want to
give me that ticket.
And now they're in
this predicament.
Like, so we have
to understand that,
that it's not just
maybe us it's maybe
especially we're in a
law enforcement type
role or a military type
role or whatever, even
just even just bumping
down the street or, and
it seems somebody and,
and, and, you know, then
maybe figuring out what
your name is or you're in
line at a grocery store
and your, uh, what's your
rewards number for file.
A lot of people will
have their Starbucks
rewards or, or grocery
store rewards based
on their phone number.
Yeah.
How many times are
you blurted that out
for everyone to hear
everyone, everyone.
Right.
So we need to start to
think about these basic
things and not just for.
For those that we
love around us.
And that's all, that's
old understanding the,
how much we can gather
from that open source
available information
like this idea has been
around well Fort well,
before the internet,
it's just open source
things that people can
gather information on.
I remember hearing
stories, my grandfather,
he was Vancouver police,
and you would have
people parked out front.
And, uh, I remember
my mom saying one
time, he just dragged
a guy in, from a car
from outside, take him
across the desk and
started laying into him.
I guess what you
did back in the day.
I remember as a kid,
uh, we we'd get phone
calls, even though
were unlisted or my,
uh, my grandparents
had phoned up and they
say, no, someone's
looking for you.
They're trying, they're
trying to find you.
So I give them your
phone number, tell you
where they can find them.
There's always this.
This sense of privacy
that everybody needs and
different people in more
secure roles will need
a higher level of, uh,
privacy because of the
people that they're going
to be surrounded by.
But in today's day and
age, we're not really
afforded that luxury
of being able to say
all my, my phone number
is unlisted, right.
Or I, when you're
talking earlier about,
okay, you've got
yourself sorted, you've
got your open source
intelligence profile.
You've Googled yourself
and it looks good.
What about your husband,
your wife, your kids.
And I've told this story
before in the podcast.
It was, I just
did it for fun.
I mean, it was at a
lawyer's office, was
doing some consulting
for, and I was waiting
while the private
investigator was chatting
with the lawyer and
they're telling them
all about how they can't
find this one woman
that they're supposed
to be serving a warrant.
And while I'm waiting
there in the side
room, I'm just kind of
listening to him, the
conversation that's
I started typing away
and I didn't find her
through any of her own
accounts, but I found
it through her child's
music teacher account.
And I said, um, you know,
if, if you go there next
Thursday, at this time
on swamp, she, a music
teacher that's going to
be, and they were able to
find the person that way.
So let's say your
completely squared away.
How do you square
away those, those data
leaks or those privacy
breach leaks at all
of your friends and
relatives might have,
you know, um, for me
personally, I, when
I first started this
role, I was very, uh,
I'm deleting everything.
I'm going to
get a new phone.
I'm going to start
over with a new email.
I'm going to start
on everything.
And then really for
me, I had to, uh, you
know, I create a lot
of burner accounts
just to learn about it.
But as I started to
transition from fully
investigating to now
taking the information
and doing training and
development, I do have
an online presence.
Right.
I I'm active, you
know, and the biggest,
the biggest one and
the challenge for
me was LinkedIn.
Okay.
LinkedIn is.
Wealth of information
on individuals.
And I was very reluctant
to have it, but because
I was meeting and
presenting to, to, uh,
you know, groups of, of
different agencies down
in the states, different
law enforcement, they're
always like, Hey,
are you on LinkedIn?
Let's connect.
And now it's kinda
my way of connecting.
So I had to I'm
either fully in
you're either full.
Or full out.
You're not just, you
don't just have like
a little bit in, cause
you're in, right?
You got a presence.
You are no phone number,
no, no email address,
no social media.
And even down in the
states and uh, when you
buy a house or, or when
you get, when you do
get a phone number, like
there's, there's going
to be listed to you.
And there's a gentleman
who's kind of a subject
matter expert who I look
up to in this field.
Michael Buzzell,
basil is his name.
Yeah.
He teaches people how to
buy homes, uh, without
having their names
attached to it, or kind
of disappear online.
Right.
Um, uh, Intel
techniques.com is a
great website for four.
And I get no kickbacks or
ties from that one site.
It just, I, I I've
learned a lot from him.
So, so I w I want
to share that
kind of love, but.
I it's just, you know,
even, even right now,
you're like, Hey, let's,
uh, let's take a photo
and you'll put it on
your social media.
Okay.
That's great.
Promoting the podcast,
promoting the great work
that you're doing, but
are we going to take
a photo with all your
little key features of,
of your electronics here?
Maybe there's something
on the wall that, that
someone could zoom into.
And, and I don't think
people really realize
that we're in the day and
age where our kids and
I've seen time and time
again, how many kids are
going into mom and dad's
closet and finding their
military or, or, or,
uh, uh, law enforcement
uniforms and putting that
on or taking photos of,
you know, maybe different
things or posting online.
But it's, it's having
a conversation that we
know kids will be online
these days, your kids.
Oh yeah.
But you can be
online, but constant
communication, open
dialogue to say, this is
what mom and dad do for.
And it may be cool to
want to take a photo of
the inside of our house
or a photo of our car
where you see a license
plate, but I want you
to start to think how
can that eventually
get us in trouble?
And it's all about
training and awareness.
It's like, you know,
when my kids go to
school, they will be K
I don't want their name.
You know, if they're
going to play sports,
uh, I don't want their
name on a, on, on,
on the sports roster
because all those
rosters get put online.
Right.
And I know exactly.
And I grew up playing
junior hockey, university
hockey, and I loved
it back in the day.
It was great.
But now you
search my name.
You see where I lived at
this time, you know, uh,
where I lived at that
time, all the information
about you, my stats, how
much I weigh, you know,
how tall I am, uh, what
my hometown was, because
that's all information
that is put out there.
So, I mean, there
has to be a balance,
but I think at the
end of the day, we're
always going to be on.
You find that small
percentage that is not,
and doesn't want to
be, and doesn't feel
the need to promote.
But if someone else
close to you, like when
your kids grow up, are
they going to want to
be on social media?
Probably.
If they're not,
they're going to be
the only kids in class.
And that's the biggest
thing we get from parents
is my kids, the only
person in class who
doesn't have a phone.
Okay.
It is.
And, and you're
a bad parent.
If you don't get
your kid a phone.
Cause they're,
they're, they're not
communicating nowadays.
Exactly.
But there's nothing
stopping that you
can't consistently
remind your kids.
About the vulnerabilities
of, of what they're
posting and how
they're posting it.
And we see kids all the
time posting from inside
their bedroom, outside
their school, uh, you
know, everything down
to their school uniform
on just right away.
I've seen Mo you know,
uh, the first day of
school parents are proud
to send their kids to
school and they hold
this little sign in
front of their house
and say, you know, uh,
first day of school,
and all of a sudden
you're saying, what
school you go to, what
your favorite teacher
is, you know, your
house address probably
in the background.
And there's gotta be
a fine balance, but I
think it comes down to
just constant awareness
that what's in the
background of photo.
What can we not
put out there yet?
Don't, we're not, we're
going to go on vacation.
I'm not telling the world
I'm going on vacation.
Many people will, right.
Many people will
be going away.
Oh, great.
Enjoying a great
trip to, to Mexico.
Great.
Now I know your house is
available to go into, so
there's, there's, you're
either full, inner, full
up at the end of the day.
And I, and I don't
really have an answer
to that other than
just constantly.
What about the
other side?
What if you just inundate
the web with false?
Yeah, it's funny.
It's funny that you say
that because there's a
lot of disinformation
misinformation.
Why?
Because.
I've possibly
created accounts.
Sure.
What information that
is fully, you know, I
am I'm this height and
I'm way this, what I
really weigh this, or
my hometown's here, my
age is this, so yeah.
Uh, you can either just
fully inundate with
misinformation about
yourself and I, I, at
some point someone's
gonna be like, Hey, I
don't really know that
detail about this person.
I'm sure.
There's ways
of finding it.
I'm sure there's other
people's search engines
that maybe, but yeah.
Inundate and I, you
know, it's funny in our
training, um, you know, I
was in Texas, uh, someone
was like, I searched
my name through this
platform that you gave us
and everything's wrong.
And I was like, that's
not a bad thing.
Do you want, do you
want this to be accurate
about yourself so
everyone could see
they're like, oh yeah.
And so, yeah, that's
definitely inundate
inundate, right?
If it's already out
there because the
internet may forget.
It never forgets, right?
There are third party
websites, like, uh,
the, the Wayback
machine archive dot I
S it used to be called
Google cache data.
Um, uh, a search engine
based out of Russia
called Yan decks.
I've heard of that one.
Yeah.
There's ways of
implementing your
information, even though
you may have deleted it
off your accounts and
figuring out what they
have archive because
they go and screenshot
everything that we do
the way back machine.
Right.
You're your use that one
so many times, right?
And, and your website
is archived forever.
So good or for bad.
I mean, you can, you can,
I'll use it for good.
I can go back and
show how things were.
Let's say 10 years ago
where we've grown or
somebody can say you
used to advertise this.
I'm like, did I,
I can go on, on,
yeah.
So, so yeah, at the
internet may forgive,
but it never forgets.
So if you have
information out there
and you're like, I
need to get rid of this
all I'm like, okay.
So let's try to
think of other ways.
If the internet is full
of your information,
it's going to be decently
easy to get it back.
So you make a
great point.
Let's just inundate
with everything we can.
So,
so let's say a school
violence school
shooting something's
happening or how.
How would your
response to that be?
Cause I think I kinda
brought this up before
and I was talking with
Sonny from six sites
and I kind of delved in.
I said, I don't really
know, but I think it's
got something about
setting up geo-fences
yeah.
So, you know, everyone
was big in the school
safety realm of social
media monitoring.
Okay.
So you set up an
electronic fence around
a school site and you
keyword monitor on
a majority of social
media applications.
When someone mentions
bomb drugs, gone
fight, kill due to
restricted access now
to the APIs of Facebook
and Instagram and
Snapchat and Tik talk.
You're not gathering the
information on what once
was available to you.
Okay.
So we teach it to it
from, from our, we
teach from a human
standpoint of a human
gathering information
rather than a software
machine generated
report this fence.
So each application is
going to be different.
So.
When a school shooting
happens, God forbid
we have one of our
analysts dedicated to,
and this is mainly the
one application that you
can do it for Twitter.
Uh, today I was training
folks from around north
America, uh, on how to
set up an electronic
fence on Twitter,
around your school
and keyword monitor.
Anytime someone mentions
bomb, drugs, gunfight
kill, that can happen
on Twitter, but for
Snapchat, which is
usually a one-to-one
communication, it's
a little bit harder,
but there's a website
called map.snapchat.com.
You don't have to be
logged into you can go
online and there's hot
spots in certain areas.
So when the flooding was
happening here in BC, I
went on map.snapchat.com.
There's going to be
a hotspot over, you
know, the Abbotsford
area or certain areas.
And you get a lens of,
of people on the street,
uploading Snapchats.
And now you get to
see those Snapchats
that someone else
has put out there.
You're not going to see
everything because you
have two options when
you're Snapchatting to
send it to your friend
individually, or upload
it to your kind of,
uh, my story or have
it kind of sent out
there in the world.
So you're not going
to see everything, but
you're still finding
data in every aftermath
of a school shooting.
The hotspot over
that school is red.
It is on fire with
everyone in an area on
their phones, right.
Go to a concert, go
to event everyone's
on their phones.
Everyone's posting,
you're going to get
some information.
And so you're going to
go on map.snapchat.com
and you're going to see
a lens of everything
that's happening.
The, the, and I was
there about four days
before the Vegas.
All right.
I was, I was staying at
the Mandalay bay four
days before when I leave.
Of course, that's
when the terrible
act of violence
happened in Vegas.
Right.
But when I was going
on map.snapchat.com to
figure out what people
are posting, what they
were actually doing was
they were, they were
downloading, every video
was posted and they're
actually building a
timeframe based on when
things were posted to
maybe when shots were
fired or, or, but they're
all gathering it from,
from, from social media
who knew that we could
go and find someone's
posts to then build a
timeframe of the incident
that just happened.
And, and, and on,
on Instagram, right?
We can, there's,
there's just so many
things that you can do
with finding people.
Uh, every image that
I come across, right?
A lot of times kids were
having threats to schools
daily, unfortunately,
across North Korea.
When a student makes a
threat and post a photo
of a gun, all you see in
their social media posts
is a gun, and they're
like, don't come to
school tomorrow, right?
It's a pretty generic
threat, especially
the language analysis.
Like there's no
specificity in the
language, but that photo
of the gun is concerning.
But if you conduct a
reverse image search,
which means you
take that photo 10.
Exactly.
And that's a website we
use or Google images.
If you upload a Google
and Google images or
into bing.com, uh, the
image section or even
Yandex it'll scan.
And I, and I want you to
start to think of Google,
Bing, Yandex tonight.
They're all
different businesses.
They have a different way
of, of indexing their,
their, their images.
If you upload that gun
photo to Google being
Yandex, uh, whatever I,
and it comes back with.
Yeah.
We also found this
image being hosted
multiple other places
on the internet.
Well, a possibly for
that threat, it just went
down and we're having
school districts shut
down, schools alone.
Just on that threat.
Don't come to
school at Memorial.
Here's a photo of a gun.
That's, there's a lot
more factors that need to
be taken in consideration
if there was specificity
in that language.
And there was that
image came back
like zero results.
I'm like, okay,
we either, we have
a concern here.
Right?
And even something
as simple as, as, uh,
ensuring police know
that regardless of what
you do on social media.
So the big idea, you
know, from parents to, to
educators, to schools is,
oh, I deleted that post.
You did on your profile,
but you don't think
Facebook or Instagram
or Tik TOK stores, still
everything that you've
done, every private
message you've ever
sent on social media,
regardless of you delete.
Law enforcement
can get back.
Right?
Right.
You, as a user of
Facebook can actually,
whether you use Facebook
or Instagram or any
platform, you can
actually go into Facebook
through your settings,
request everything that
Facebook has on you.
Right.
It's going to give you
an and I was blown away
when I first did this.
Um, I requested
information on
Facebook, on what
they had about me.
And I've used Facebook
for over 10 years.
My Facebook account
now is dead empty.
I'm like, I don't
want anything.
I don't use it.
It's, it's mainly to
keep track of friends
around the world.
So I said, well, there's
nothing on my profile.
They, they probably
don't have anything.
And boy was I wrong.
They had every photo
I've ever liked.
Every, every private
message, every photo
uploaded, every video
uploaded, every place
I checked in, they even
had all of my private
messages and every
contact in my phone.
Because when you download
an application at
one time, you may have
given it permission
or at one time it
didn't need permission.
Did
it exactly think about
the apps you downloaded?
People were
just like, okay.
Okay.
Okay.
I just want the
app, but right.
Why is this app asking
for access to my
contacts for convenience
to go through your
phone, to figure out
who else has the app?
So you can add them as
friends saying, oh yeah.
Uh, you know, Nick
from your contact list
also has Snapchat.
What'd you like to
add them as a friend?
It's cause we're in
the generation of,
of, I don't want to
say being lazy, but
jeez convenience.
Exactly.
Right.
It's for convenience
rather than for security,
but the minute you allow
an app access to your
contacts, guess what?
They have their context.
So some of the
three-letter agencies
that I'm going down
and I'm keynote
presenting at.
And I tell them that
they're like, Do you
know how many people in
our phone are some quite
high up individuals in
the intelligence world.
And I'm like, yeah, I
do get access
to that.
Exactly.
So there's, there's
vulnerabilities there.
So just things to think
about at the, of the day
it's awareness, there's
actually a great, uh,
there's a great few
documentaries online.
I listened to a
podcast called, called
reply all it's a tech
based focus podcast.
Uh, there's a
great Netflix
documentary called
the social dilemma.
If you've ever seen
it on Netflix, it
just talks about how
these applications
are really businesses,
manipulating everything
we do daily huge, right.
And their algorithms
and the way that
they're doing things.
So we're getting
that dopamine.
Exactly.
Whatever we can do
to trigger that and
keep people on it.
Exactly.
So, well, what about
that Netflix one with
the, uh, the cat killer.
Oh,
don't F with cats.
So that's actually
a funny that you
bring that up.
Um, our organization
actually just previous
to my, myself coming on,
dealt with that because
what they don't share
and I hope I don't get
in trouble for saying
this, what they share,
what they don't share
is, do you remember
where they sent, uh,
the body parts to,
yeah.
One was a school
year in Vancouver.
Did they say that
in the, in a duck?
Okay.
I didn't know if they
said that, but yeah,
that's why we were
involved and they send
it to a school here.
They sent it to the
politicians, but, but
everything that, those
that, that I can't
remember her name and
the other gentleman, same
where there, you know,
what's the street pole
look like in Montreal
and they're going on
Google maps and here's
a gas station and the
view up like that.
Open source intelligence.
That's what I'm
doing daily.
That is actually
probably one of the
best documentaries that
you can watch to really
understand how, you
know, things that you
have in front of you
can lead to finding you
like the wall sockets.
Uh, I think on one photo
where like that's not
north American, that's
European and right.
And things like that.
That's everything
that we're doing and
that's open source
intelligence to, to,
so there's going to be
some computer algorithms
you can run through.
That'll be just
AI learning.
You can say I'm looking
for, I mean like apple
has it with your photos.
You can say a
boat, you can type
into your search.
It'll show you all
the things that was
a boat in there.
It's like, wow,
that's pretty good.
Do they have the same
sort of thing for,
uh, more of an open
source or for search
of these things?
Or there
was a website that I
think just became paid.
I only think it's
actually a few dollars.
I think it's called
PIM eyes pimp.
PIM eyes and you can run
a picture of your face
and it actually scans
the whole internet.
And I did this on myself
and I was like, okay.
You know, I always test
things on myself or, or
work colleague first.
And I was like,
oh my goodness.
I did not know
that photo.
It was like, you know,
when I was like super
young, you know, they,
they have photographers
at the club and,
and I'm like 21.
And they're like, Hey,
smile for the camera.
It's going to be
put on our, our
promotion website.
And I'm like not thinking
about it at the time.
And, and I'm like,
they found that photo
from like 14 years ago,
know that photo, right?
There's, there's many
photos, there's many
photos that are out
there and, and, um,
Yandex, a Russian
based search engine has
great facial recognize.
Facial conditions
is insane that we
have out right now.
That's publicly
available that we have.
I remember watching a,
um, uh, I think it was
a documentary or it
may, could have been
a, uh, just a quick,
uh, news clip on it.
I think it was over
in China and they
had a guy and he
said, okay, cool run.
You probably know this
one better than I do.
Are you talking about
the social score that
they have in China?
Are you talking?
Oh
no, no, no.
They said, okay, we're
going to try this.
We have however millions
of people over there
and we'll see how long
it takes to find them.
And we're going to
give them a headstart,
go run mind you.
They also have cameras
everywhere, too.
Right.
And through facial
recognition and this
guy, he was gone.
They give a big
head, start, click,
go thing turns on.
And it didn't take
any time at all
when they found the
guy.
And that's, that's the.
Oh, it's I look it
on, on both sides.
It's like, Hey, at
what point is there
the privacy to, to
the monitoring of
citizens, to the big
brother and everything
is talking about.
And I mean, I truly
believe that if we
were just to have no
agencies monitoring
what we're doing
online, there's going
to be issues happening.
The reason why there's
certain agencies, you
know, possibly, as I say,
big brother is because,
well, it's really their
job to keep us safe, but
we've elected people in.
Who've hired people
to keep us safe and
yeah, and it's all
information we're
putting out there.
And the facial
recognition is
absolutely insane.
And, and, you know,
I was just talking
about this, the social
score in China, uh, you
as a citizen spit on
the ground as you're
walking jaywalk, uh,
you, um, do things
that maybe don't make
you the best citizen.
This is.
This is actually
black mirror.
This is a black mirror
episode, but it's
happening in real life.
You get a social score,
your score goes below
a certain amount.
You are possibly banned
from flying or buying
this or buying that.
And it's all based
on trying to keep it
citizens in line in line.
Right.
And that is a
black mirror
episode that
just gets scary.
I mean, all of it, all
of it, the farther we
advanced it to this gets.
And get scariest
like Ilan.
He talks about
artificial intelligence.
He says like, that's
one of the most
scary things around.
They should be a, a,
an oversight body to
watch what we're doing
there was.
And I just, I read this
in the news and I, in
no way have had time
to follow up with this.
Um, but they were saying
that there was an, uh,
a bot that they created
artificial intelligence
and it actually.
I don't know what it
did is it spent some
time online or it, it,
it fed it some, you
know, forums to look at.
And they said that
the bot actually came
out to be a little bit
racist and homophobic.
I remember, you know,
the AI is just there's.
We always hear those
horror stories and
what's that one with
will Smith, right?
Where I think that's
camera, what it's called.
People are probably
screaming into
the mic right now.
Maybe it's that
movie, but yeah,
it's, it's the world.
And, and, you know,
I travel a lot.
I'm I'm I was just
spent a week on the road
and, and some days I'm
gone for three weeks,
some days I'm gone for
a month, some days I
literally just go to
the states for, for a
day and a half, right.
Over a hundred
flights a year.
And a lot of the
time I'm like, Hey,
I have to pay bills.
I have to, I have to,
you know, log into
different accounts
when I'm on the road.
I have to, uh, people
are probably going
through the airport.
Rushing logging into
their banking on the
open wifi in the, in the,
in the airport, sending
some money to an account,
paying their bills, not
even thinking about it.
Somebody could be going
to a Starbucks and,
and sitting down at the
Starbucks, connecting
to wifi and logging
into passwords, checking
their social media.
But what I could do if
I was nefarious minded,
nefarious minded is
by up, what's called a
wifi pineapple, right?
I could be sitting in my
truck, literally in the
parking lot of Starbucks,
I could be plugging it
in and doing my thing.
I can have my
computer going.
I can name my wifi,
pineapple Starbucks.
You're going to see
possibly two Starbucks
pops up, but the amount
of people that go through
there, they might just
click the first one.
And it could be mine.
You're connected to
the internet, but it's
connected to me giving
you internet, right.
Or there's multiple ways
of doing this, but it's
essentially kind of.
Key logging, right.
What you're doing,
what passwords
you're putting in.
You may be thinking
you're just checking
Facebook, but really
I'm actually seeing
what you're doing
in the backend.
So, you know, I
always suggest, you
know, you're using
a VPN or definitely,
definitely do not.
Like when I go to my
hotel and I live in a
hotel for like a week, I
gotta go, I gotta do my
banking on my computer.
I hotspot off my
phone or I'll just
do it off my phone.
I'm not connected.
Exactly.
Right.
So little things
like that, right.
Where we need
to be aware of.
Do we know if
so key logging?
Of course, if I have
a direct key logger,
I remember years ago I
had, when he could plug
in the computer, plug it
into the, in line with
your, your, uh, keyboard
there and every keystroke
would be locked.
And then you can key log
through programs and like
monitoring or specter
software type type things
that you can install.
But yeah.
If you auto-populate
a password, something
that's stored from
your key chain.
That's a good question.
I wonder that's
a good question.
And I, that is actually
a really good question.
I,
because if they're
using a has to, um,
I guess it depends
on how it transmits
and how it goes.
I, I want to say
no because you're
not actually
putting a password.
It's just auto-populating
but I, I couldn't, I
couldn't confirm or deny
that I never, and by
the way, I never tell
anyone to, you know,
save your passwords
on your devices.
Like if I have your
computer right now
and you're like, huh,
go to the washroom.
Uh, you know, if
you're bored, just
go on my computer.
I can go to the settings
on your internet
and figure it out.
Accounts you have saved
your passwords for, and
then get into actually
open up your passwords
through your browser.
So I had actually
a work colleague.
Uh, he used my, I was
away for like a week.
He came up from
the states, uh,
sat at my computer.
He logs out of my
email logs into his.
Okay.
Right.
And then I was like,
I was like, there was
someone else logged
in and I was like,
so I go through my
settings on my computer.
I figured out, uh, the
account he used and he
actually had saved his
password because he was
like inspector tools.
No, it's actually through
your settings, it's
through your settings
on your browser.
Uh, because when
you, auto-populate a
password, you go save
password stars, right?
Yeah.
It shows with stars, but
in the backend settings
of your internet, you
can actually view your
password that way.
So I, I messaged him.
I go, Hey man, uh,
use my computer.
He goes, yeah, thanks.
You know, I know
you were gone.
And I said, and I just
shut this password.
And he's like, excuse me.
And I said, you know,
a clear, clear history
before you leave.
Yeah.
Um, and, and don't
auto-populate and save
your passwords, right?
That's for convenience
rather than for security.
And, and sometimes you'll
need to know the password
to the computer to do
that, but just little
things like that, right.
You go in, uh, the,
the best, the funniest
thing is, you know,
I got to go get a new
phone, uh, tomorrow.
I guarantee, and this
happens every time I'm
at an apple store, you
get, uh, you get that mom
and dad running around,
getting their phone,
you get the kid at one
phone, testing it out,
but what does he do?
And he's logging
into his Facebook or
his Instagram there.
I need to save it
and keeps it open.
And I'm like, okay.
Right.
Like, so yeah, you gotta,
you gotta be mindful
on what you're doing
and logging in and into
what, what devices.
And so these kids just,
they just want to check
their Facebook or social
media, but then it's
logged in and maybe
all your personal, and
so, yeah, don't auto
save your passwords
essentially as well.
You
know, I guess it's less
on the open source side
when the people start
going in, in that area.
It's just human
error, right?
Totally.
Yeah.
I remember I had a,
um, there was one law
firm that I was doing
some work for and a,
they called me up and
they said there's, uh,
a woman came in and
she was having problems
with her husband,
wanted to divorce him.
And the lawyers do
the first thing that
lawyers typically will
do is pour a lot of
cold water on you.
Right.
Try and get some, some
common sand syndrome.
It's going to cost a lot.
It's going to be a
difficult process.
It's gonna, anyways,
they go through this
whole thing and she says,
well, I got money and she
pulls out a can, so big
water cash inside here.
Like what
then?
Like, like an
actual, like paint
cans, tin cans.
I think
from what it was relayed
to me, it was like a
soup can or something.
Right.
And what if a cast, like,
where'd you get this?
Oh, my husband, he's got
a whole bunch of these.
Right.
Okay.
What's going on?
And he started digging
a little bit anyways,
say, um, I, uh, they
contacted me on, on
some of the work that
needed to be done.
And then I spoke to some
of the security agencies
that we do work with
and they just needed to
do a detail on, on the
individual and the place.
Of course she
gave permission.
They go in, but the.
Everything, uh, thumb
drives and it tells
you what's been put on,
what's been taken off,
uh, there's uh, little
tidbits of information
with data timestamps,
your toaster, right?
Like everything that they
can, they go in there and
they securely properly
image these things.
So that's a little less
on the open source,
but from a privacy
standpoint, um, also
I guess, knowing who
you're with right.
Would be, would be
a good situation or
your buddy there goes,
luckily you're honest.
And you tell them like,
look, don't, don't use
your password like this,
but that's a, uh, it does
bring up a really good
point.
So, Travis, you, you,
I thought about a story
here because do you
ever, what do you do with
your phones when you,
when you, when you get.
And you may be different
for, you may be different
than most so, but
everyone else thinking,
I guarantee you, your
folks listening, they're
like, well, that's
a 500, $700 phone.
I'm going to resell it.
Yeah.
Nope.
Not, not
one.
I can show you
where they all are
and I'll show you.
I have probably 50
that, that phone that
has to go back to work
and I'm going to be
like, ah, we should
just, you know, because
criminals were going to
like garage sales or,
or buying fax machine.
Think of when you
think of your fax
machine or your.
How much personal
information you are
sending through that,
your scanner and fax
machine, they are so
poorly encrypted for
the most part that you
can pull that data off.
Yes.
Yeah.
So I sell my phone.
I plug in, I buy for 10
grand, a celebrate kit.
Okay.
Celebrate a lot of time.
Law enforcement will
use that to extract
data off devices, right?
Every photo that you
take on your phone,
even though you
delete it can still
possibly be extracted.
There's.
There's a lot
of information.
I sell my phone to
the wrong person, even
though I factory reset
it, there's still ways
of possibly getting
back that information.
And I have a good
friend of mine.
Who's also with me in,
in, in certain, uh, with
the , uh, influenced
activities in, in, uh,
here within the military.
That's what he
specializes in.
Right.
And, uh, so you plug
in this celebrate.
And criminals, we're
getting information
from facts, scanners,
and, and now they're,
they're exploiting people
who have, you know,
just want to get rid
of their equipment and
make money off of it.
But unbeknownst to
these individuals,
these criminals are
getting some pretty
sensitive information.
Think of all the checks,
all the documents, all
the information you scan,
think about contents on
your phone, and now you
have these individuals
extracting all that data.
Well, okay.
Back could
crumble a business
from what I understand,
I, and maybe law
enforce is going to have
different tools, but the
I-phones particularly
now every generation
that comes out a simple
factory reset on that
can, can be very, very
difficult to retrieve any
information.
Yeah.
And that's, and that's
something that, that
is definitely, if
you're going to sell
your phone right.
Factory reset it.
I, uh, It is going
to be, it is starting
to be a lot harder.
Um, the iPhones are
getting very, um,
very privacy focused.
I mean, even, even back
to the San Bernandino
shooting though, uh,
I, I, they couldn't get
backdoor access, so it
wouldn't give them no,
because that's a, that
would be bad on their
end for all users.
So they had to go
to a third party,
which eventually
kind of got through.
And so, yeah, there's,
I mean, there's always
ways of getting through
to things or information,
depending on how much
money you spend on
these celebrated kits.
But, you know, the
basic thing is I phones
are, are definitely
a great phone, uh,
your apple computers.
Um, but
Peter, however,
because we've dealt
with a few of these X
years, a company here
locally, TCS forensics,
parent used to own it.
I believe he sold it now.
Um, anyways, we've
worked with them on
some files and, uh,
We had, I remember one
in particular fellow
wiped the, uh, the
computer then through
a bleaching software on
there, but there's still
a lot of information
that can pull up.
I I'll tell you right
now, like w hopefully
work, lets me keep
this phone and dispose
of it on my own.
Like, it's, it's going
to go in the microwave or
it's going to go, uh, you
know, uh, I'm gonna have
a bonfire on the weekend.
It's going to kind
of go in there.
I going to get rid
of it in, in a,
in a certain way.
I'm never, never
going to sell a phone.
And a lot of times
it's $500 you could
get from that.
But
what's $500 in the grand
scheme of things and
don't get me wrong.
It, no one may do
any harm to it.
Like some kid
could buy it.
They're like, yeah,
I just put my, get
my SIM card, do
this, but who knows?
You don't want to be.
It's like winning
the lottery.
It may never happen,
but this is the lottery
you don't want to win.
Right.
So with open source,
I guess, whereas
looking at before,
we're talking about
artificial intelligence
and learning software
to be able to help scan.
But when we talk about
the don't F with cats,
that's just lots of
people out there, or with
the Shiloh buff one with
the, uh, this is a lot of
people on Reddit looking
at, do Osen agencies
rely on crowdsourcing
information.
I'll tell you right now,
when a shooting happens,
I have somebody monitor
Reddit for Chen eight
con there's another
site called Kiwi farms,
because especially on
Reddit, there's almost
like a, I like to call
it the Reddit bureau
of investigation.
It's, it's probably a
bunch of individuals that
you would picture, you
know, drinking mountain
Dew and mom, and dad's
basement with a lot of
time on their hands.
Yeah.
It's just, but these, oh,
I've met some of these
individuals who are just.
Geniuses.
Yeah.
And so this one analyst
may not think they're
doing a lot, but I say
scan that like, just
keep refreshing these
forums because these
individuals, kids,
adults, they're just
bombarding these pages
with everything they're
finding it is we are
just relying because we
have our analysts doing
the same thing and we're
finding the same and
maybe more, or maybe
not enough, but I say,
you will sit and refresh
this page for the next
few hours and you will
document everything you
find, even though we
may have document over
here, but there is going
to be information that
like literally when the
name of the shooter is
announced, people are
going to their page.
They're finding the
killer's profile because
within no time at all,
Facebook, Instagram,
they're deleting these,
these people off.
They're also applying
upload to the archive.
Exactly.
Right.
I remember when I
was investigating and
working at the, uh,
uh, the Christchurch
New Zealand shooter.
Right.
Okay.
My job was to
find the manifest.
That's that was
my sole job.
I fist scanning
these forums.
I found it on this,
the, uh, Kiwi farms
going to the link.
It was literally
linked to this one,
this one page, um,
for no time at all.
And I got there
just a little bit,
not fast enough.
So I'm like, well, okay.
It's.
It's not hosted
there anymore.
I found a link though.
So what did I do?
Put that link way back
machine way back machine.
What they did is is
they, they screenshot
everything on the
internet and they noticed
that there was a lot
of individuals going
to this, this one page.
So it must be important
that you read of
themselves there.
They had screenshot the
whole amount of Festo
and I'm getting content
back, but I relied on
someone posting the link
to it from a crowdsource
page, like this thing.
So yeah, we are
definitely using it.
And I, and I guarantee
police are doing
the same thing.
Other agencies are
doing the same thing
and it would be silly
not to, it's like having
someone do the work for
you and, and there's
some smart individuals
out in this field.
So yeah, Reddit and
all these different
forums, I'd be careful
on the four channels
and the eight cons.
It's really the cesspool
of the internet.
Not, not good.
Content goes, they're
kind of more, more
to read it, but yeah.
Um, I think it was
called a Cicada.
There is a, uh, there
is a picture that went
out on the internet.
One.
And anyways, they, I, I
think it turned out to
be a great big online
puzzle and they're
trying to, they're hiding
clues within information
and they just go in
behind the picture.
They look at the
metadata, they find
something and they ended
up working themselves
all the way, all the
way around the world
to try and solve the
I'll put a link to it,
a cicadas, something
really interesting
sort of thing.
But it kind of reminds
me about, uh, this whole
crowdsourcing effort
for, for intelligence.
And when we talk about
these guys who are
drinking the mountain
Dew and in mom's
basement, man, I don't
know, they got the
time on their hands.
They can do some
devastating thing.
With a little bit of
knowledge and time.
Yeah.
And that, and that's it
they've, you know, they
have, that's what they
dedicate their lives to.
And they have a lot
of time it's just
passionate to them.
And, uh, if you're not
relying on crowd source
data for sometimes these
intelligence gathering,
then, then you're missing
key pieces to the puzzle.
Right.
So here's
one, uh, maybe just a
little bit off topic,
but a more of a personal
thought on it would be.
You talk about in
the military.
And I believe recently in
Canada, we had a, a news
announcement in regards
to COVID information
that was being released.
Did you read
any about that?
What specifically?
I believe that was
specifically stated that,
um, it was, uh, uh, I
ain't measures were used
in order to gain COVID.
Compliance COVID
vaccine.
Again, I didn't
read that.
I thought you
were referring to
something else that
happened out east.
Uh, but, uh, I what'd you
read back to you, so it
sounds more interesting.
I don't know if I, I
don't know if I want
to bring this up.
It's a certain issue
that happens, uh, in,
uh, in more of the
east coast of Canada.
I'll leave it at that.
Uh, but yeah, I mean,
I think every single
day when you and I are
influencing people's
activities, the news,
the, the people you meet
on the streets, um, and,
and whatever way you look
at it, it could be, how
do we get the most amount
of people vaccinated so
they can be kept safe
and, and maybe there
is a component to it.
I know that the Canada's,
uh, Canada doesn't do.
That type of work
on our citizens.
Doesn't do that type of
the news release set was
that the actually did.
And I don't know if it
was a bit of a training
exercise to see how
effective they could be
added or what all the
details were, but it was,
it was plastered up in a
bunch of different plans.
I don't know if I
want to speak, speak
specifically to that.
Cause I don't
know full details.
I may know what you're
referring to, but you
know, um, you know, every
single day we're, we're,
we're being manipulated.
Um, you know, I, I even,
um, I even was applying
for a job once and I
figured if I'm going
into this interview,
they know about me.
Why not figure out
what I can about them.
Right.
And so, you know, through
some basic searches and
figuring out maybe who
the hiring manager is.
W I want this person
that liked me.
I want this job, right.
If I come to you and,
and, you know, even, even
coming out in him, he
going out on a date on
the weekend, or you're
going to, what's stopping
me from going into an
interview or on a date
or whatever to search
for that, that hiring
manager to figure out his
or her likes dislikes.
And maybe I just spend
my conversation a
way to say, oh yeah,
you know, what do you
like to do for fun?
I just bought a boat and
I like to go boating.
You want a boat?
That's, that's crazy.
And you're just starting
to relate to somebody and
you get back into this
more social engineering
aspect and biohacking.
Yeah.
And, and there's, you
know, there's some,
there's some great, um,
great individuals that
I follow on Twitter.
And on different forums
who specialize in, in,
in social engineering,
biohacking, uh, open
source intelligence and,
and, um, you know, I'm
always learning from
them because they're
coming out with new
techniques and tactics.
And, um, I think
that's the biggest
thing is you're ever
interested in, in
this type of field.
Type in online, you know,
open source intelligence
techniques, what is
social engineering?
And you're going
to be like, that's
social engineering
that if someone did
that to me and I
didn't even realize it
and nefarious, and
it can be used for
nefarious means, but
it's not necessarily
no, not necessarily.
And I, every, every
job interview that I'm
going into or every,
Hey know, possibly a
new client I'm meeting,
I'm, I'm searching them.
You better believe
I'm going to search
them online to figure
out who they are, uh,
uh, you know, what
they're about and what
their interests are.
So maybe I can just
even connect with them
just that much more.
Right.
All right.
So I think it
makes sense.
And we have the tools
and the ability to do
it, to not use that
I think would be a.
A little foolhardy.
Yeah.
And you know, I think we
have a lot of catching
up to do with our,
our, uh, different
agencies to, you know,
going into the RCMP
Depot training league.
It's important
for them to be.
And I don't know if
they do, I'm not,
I'm not a member.
And I can only imagine
they're, they're playing
catch up, but training
these officers in depth
that you know, what
you're doing online can
come back to haunt you.
What you're doing online.
Hey, like I always,
I always have, uh,
when I'm talking to
parents and the parents
are like, yeah, my
kid wants a phone
and wants to do this.
And, or even kids come
and talk to me and say,
you know, I really want
to be a law enforcement
officer when I grow up.
I said, that's great,
very rewarding job, but
what are you doing now?
So when 10 years
comes up and you're
in that undercover
role, something you're
doing now, doesn't
come back to haunt you.
And they're like, I
didn't think about that.
Right.
And it's always, what's,
it's always kind of
way back in the day, we
would make one mistake
and there's been, you
know, politicians or
individuals going into,
into that politics.
Who've done something
like 10 years ago, but
we know the opposing
party is going to find
it and they don't even
run because they're
like, oh, it's gonna
haunt me down the road.
And we've seen
that happen through
different Paul Paul.
I know I was just
going to say it, you
know, it's happened
to some people, right.
Uh, to, to, to some
individuals in various
political roles.
And, and I always
like to say.
You're going to
make mistakes.
If you're online, you're
going to make mistakes,
but let's just hope that
mistake doesn't come
back to haunt you down
the road or, or being
used in a, in a bad way.
And I, I shared the
story as well with,
uh, you know, how
important it is to
train your kids, right?
Talk to your kids about
what they're posting.
There was a family on
vacation and, uh, and
I guarantee, and then
for those of you that
are listening, if you
have your own kids, ask
them, ask your own kids.
If you, if they know
everyone in their
friends list on social.
Um, your, your kids
are gonna come back
and maybe lie to you
and say, yeah, I do.
But if they have
like hundreds of kids
following them and
they're like 15, 16,
like, do we really think
our, our kids know, like
really know every single
one of those, those kids
in their friends list.
So there's a story
of a family they're
going to Mexico.
Okay.
So mom and dad take
family and a few of
the kids in it and ACU
the kids, friends, and
another couple, they
go on vacation and
parents that are just
there to drink my tea.
I sit on the beach and
have a good time, right?
Yeah.
What are the kids doing?
Well, I want to
get to the resort.
I want to take a photo.
I want to show to
my friends that I'm
on vacation while
they're at home.
You know what they're
doing, whatever.
Um, and so the kids
rush, they start
to post online.
And a few days in one
of the kids receives a
message from a, a boy
that she's had in her
friends list for her for
years, but never actually
met them in real life.
And this boy.
Oh, my gosh, you
are you're in
Mexico right now.
I was there last
year at this time.
I've actually, I still
stayed at the exact
same resort as you and,
and down the road, you
should try ziplining at
this one place and rock
climbing across the way.
And there's a sea doing
place down the road.
And that is
I'm so jealous.
We just couldn't
afford it this year and
take tons of photos.
And when you get back,
maybe we should finally
find time to hang out.
And the girl's
like, oh, wow.
Like, yeah, for
sure looking kid,
let's go hang out.
And the boys like,
well, what are you home?
I'll make time.
And put it put time aside
to make time for you.
And then the girl's like,
I'll be home Saturday.
I can't wait.
Yeah.
She goes back.
They invoice, enjoy
her vacation and they
come home Saturday.
Well, rested go in
the door only to find
that their places been
broken into this kid.
Even if he was a kid.
Never been to the
resort, sees a photo
of him at the resort.
What's a quick
Google search.
What's cool in the area.
Right.
And just sharing things
that he's probably
reading on like different
reviews, but really just
wanting to know when
you're going to be home.
I don't care about you.
I don't want to meet you.
I don't care.
I've never been there.
Right.
So things like that.
And, and you want to go
on vacation posts when
you get back, do you
do things like that?
Your kids are going
to want to post
because they want to
prove that they're
having a good time.
But yeah, we gotta
be careful on those
types of things.
So this, okay.
There's a, a
Twitter post, a went
around one time.
And, uh, I dunno if
it was a stage comical
thing or what, but
this guy he's like,
oh, look at how much
weight they've lost.
Right.
He takes a picture
of the scale.
Right.
Then the next
day you see.
Ah, shit.
How do I delete a post?
Cause he stand on
the scale, making his
reflection in the glass,
but I, I guess from the
comical side, I, what if
somebody goes out there
and they put something
online and they're
like, oh shit, I didn't
realize that there's
stuff in the reflection.
Right.
Or whatever.
Um, obviously the
internet won't forget,
but are there some
quick go-tos that people
should be looking at
at sort of like maybe
tidying up things of the
yeah.
And you know, if that
guy like literally right
away, was he, he posted
within a minute or two
later, he deletes like
chances are, there's
going to be very minimal
people to see it.
Right.
But maybe he, like, he
posts the gym, he does
his full hour and a half
workout and he comes
back with all these
missed messages and
he's like, uh, awkward,
um, Who knows how many
people that saw that
are going to screenshot.
I like that's,
that's comical.
You share it with
everyone.
You're going to
screenshot it.
It's just, it's just
human nature and how
easy it is to screenshot.
Um, I always tell kids
and there's a, there's
a, uh, actually I was
investigating a, uh,
a kid in front of a
school, um, who had
a gun in front of the
school and I didn't
know what school it was.
And so what do I do?
I go to Google maps, do
that little street view.
I figure out the, I knew
the community, but there
is like 10 schools in
that community an hour
and a half later as I'm
circling every school.
So I have the photo
up on one screen.
I have three monitors.
I have the photo of one
screen and I'm literally
going Google maps around
the photo to figure.
Okay.
That's that looks
like the school.
There is the,
the playground
that's the school.
And so we go, we get
security footage.
We figure it out from
there, but you can
probably hide your hide.
Uh, and I give
another story.
A, a young girl
had her, her mom.
Okay.
Got like an old school
Volkswagen beetle.
Okay.
She is posting on the,
on the inner driveway
sitting on the vehicle,
like look at the,
look at the karma,
just Scott, but she's
posting on the street.
No, no house riders
in the background,
but she lived on a
corner and on the
corner on her lawn was.
Street signs at the top.
So I take the street
signs, I plug it
into Google maps,
spin it around.
And now I have the
front door of her house.
Right.
So, you know, we have
to think about, you
know, what are you
taking a photo of?
And I literally just
takes a few seconds.
What's.
What's on the table.
Like during COVID we saw
a huge, huge increase
in people just wanting
to take photos of their,
with their home setup.
There was a, a teacher
who took a photo of
her, of her desk.
She got a, she had
it, she got a kitten.
She, she fostered a
kitten during COVID and,
uh, you know, it didn't
have a home to go to, and
it was at the shelter.
So she's like, ah,
y'all foster this kid.
She takes a photo of
her desk, but off the
side where a few log-in
usernames and passwords.
And so she sends
it to her class.
It's literally an
elementary school, like
grade six or seven class.
She goes, I can't wait to
share with you on zoom,
my cat and the kids.
Like, what is this?
Kid's like, I don't
care about the cat.
I see the passwords
where they're supposed to
logs into the calendar.
It just takes a second.
Right.
There's there's ways of,
of, of going onto your
social media and actually
going to the back end
through inspect element,
extracting the photo and
possibly getting a higher
resolution of that image.
So yeah, I see kids
all the time where
blur out your license.
Because, especially
in the states, I can
run your, your license
plate through various
license plate readers to
figure out information
about your, your plates
are what you, uh,
here in Canada, it's a
little bit different.
What's in the background.
Like I could take a
photo of you right now,
but over your right
shoulder, there's, you
know, possibly your,
your business license
to the back, or I could
zoom into just it's
situational awareness,
but what's in that photo,
that's going to give away
information about you
slow down and have
some disciplines.
We're so
fast to do things in
it, put it out there
and get the likes and
comments and validation.
And, uh, you know,
adults could be just
as bad for this.
And, and it, it
really just takes
that extra second.
Uh, I love my mom because
you know, when I'm
doing remembrance day,
when I'm doing certain
things, like I don't, I
don't want her to post
photos of me in uniform.
Because God forbid I ever
have to go and deploy
or do something she's
in connected to me.
And I don't want her,
you know, just in
unified, just maybe
just don't want it
on hers, her profile.
And so she, I love
her and what she
started to do this,
she actually, um, she
sends me every photo.
She wants to upload it.
She goes, is this
okay to upload?
Like, it's crazy.
And I'm like, oh,
I'm like, bless
your soul mom.
Like, this is awesome.
And she'll she'll and
I'll be like, Hey,
just look out for this.
And she goes, oh my God,
I didn't even see that.
Right.
There's like a sticky
note off to the corner.
That's like very blurry,
but zoom in a little
bit and make it out.
It's just, what's
around you.
Right.
So yeah, just take that
few extra seconds to
just think slow it down.
Yeah.
A lot of information.
And I know we're
just scratching
the tip of this.
Is there anything that we
should be talking about?
Is there anything
else that we haven't
talked about that
we should really
think about getting
it.
Yeah.
Yeah, that's a
good question.
There, there is a lot of
information and really
it comes down to, I mean,
some of you could be
listening and be like,
well, the cast is great
knowledge, but like,
I don't have the time.
I don't, I don't have,
uh, I have so many
things going on already.
And I, I think it just
starts with having
a conversation with
yourself about how
you're going to better
protect yourself, having
a conversation with
your kids, significant
others, depending on
what role you're in, uh,
what your job is, uh,
having a conversation
about what they're
putting out there for me.
Um, I, I, I
have an iPhone.
I text my friends,
but I also use
apps like signal.
I use an app called
confide depending on
the conversation I want
to have with sometimes
people around the world.
Confide is one of those
apps where I message you
to read your message.
I actually have
to scroll down the
screen and every line
disappears as I scroll
past the next line.
Interesting.
When I want to reply
to you, there's no
constant thread.
If I want to scream.
You only get one line.
I get nothing.
So I get kicked out
of the app, right?
When I go to the grocery
store and I, they say,
what's your number for
your store rewards?
I don't give them my
Friel phone number.
Right.
I have some, I have a,
I have a fake number
in my head that I use.
And then I'll
go from there.
I mean, yeah, there is
a, still a vulnerability
with that because maybe
some, maybe someone else
could use your number and
they say, you know, what
is the name behind it?
And maybe the, so you
just also be careful
situation awareness.
When I go into a hotel,
I spend more than
enough time in hotels.
I have a card I carry
with me because every
time I go to a hotel,
they ask welcome,
sir, uh, you know,
welcome to this hotel.
What's your name?
And or email or phone
number for records for
your file to look you up.
Right?
So on this card, I have
three lines, my full
name, my phone number and
my email and I place it,
I place it down and they
say, okay, thank you.
I take it back after when
they give me a room key
and this has happened
many of times, there's a
big line of people that
are like, all right.
You know, and I'll
say, please, don't
say my name out loud.
Not cause I tinfoil
hat wearing individual.
I just, I don't know.
Who's behind me.
Right.
I then say when they're
about to give me my car,
Um, thank you, please.
Don't say my number
of my room out loud.
Cause a lot of times I'll
be like, all right, so
Nick, you know, you're on
room, uh, you're on floor
for, at a, you know, four
16 and I'm like, and I've
had to do the awkward,
like, do you mind
giving me a new room?
Because, uh, now
you've just told the
whole line, my right
it's kind of awkward.
And I, I get kind of, you
know, especially when I
don't sleep for, for a
long time on the road.
I remember, uh, there
was somebody that was,
uh, uh, you know, all
old, busy and old.
I'll just kind of
rushed to their room and
they're grabbing things
out of their wallet and
they're grabbing things
from here and there.
And the guy's like,
you know, what's your
phone number for,
for looking you up.
And there, he just
blurting it out loud
and I'm standing there
and I'm like, I just
want to go to bed, but
I'm going to make this
a teachable moment.
And I blurred it
back to the guy and
the guy looks at me
and he's like, what.
Ah, you just, I thought
you were telling me
your phone number.
Well, now I have it.
And he's like, oh,
that's weird, man.
And I talked about
what I do and, um, for,
uh, there's a great
website called blur.
Blur is, uh, a, uh,
car masking service.
It's a paid for app
paid for a service
where you put in your
credit cards or other
information you use
that kind of drop dead
number that then forwards
to your real kind of
credit card number.
Uh, no one, no one
really has my real email.
I mean, I'm sure you can
get it, but if, if you
want my email, I give you
a, uh, forwarding email,
third 33 mail.com go to
33 mails, sign up, put in
your real email address.
And then it allows you
to create a kind of
a drop dead 40 Neal.
Let my email could
literally be you
have like your unique
username, but I could,
I could have my email.
You're like,
what's your email.
It could be like, oh,
it's Travis Bader at.
And then whatever
my username is.
And you're like, what?
But it could be
whatever you want.
So when, when I
start getting spam
from Starbucks or
whatever, I can just
drop it, get a new
one, things like that.
So invest into your
numbers, invest into
your email addresses
and, and maybe just do
a bit of research, how
to protect myself with,
you know, different tools
and tactics when it comes
to, or even just even
just searching what is
open source intelligence,
because it may open
up your mind to other
things or capabilities.
And you're like,
I didn't know that
someone could do that.
Right.
And so then it may spark
your knowledge into
learning a bit more.
And, and if, uh, if,
uh, if anyone has any
questions, I'm sure they
can reach out to you.
I'd be more than happy
to, to kind of, uh, talk
with them or guide them
in the right direction
with just really.
At the end of day
situation awareness
and understanding what
we're putting out there.
And those close to us are
also putting out there.
I'm going to put some
links up on YouTube.
I'll put links up
through the podcast.
And if people who are
listening to this have
questions and would
like to hear more.
I'm sure we could
probably arrange a time
to go through those
in a future podcast.
Nick, thank you so
much for taking the
time to be here on the
silver.
Appreciate it.
Appreciate it.
Thanks Travis.