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opsec
The practice of protecting an investigation and the investigator from exposure.
Operational security is the discipline of conducting research without revealing your identity, intent, or activity — and without contaminating your findings. It means working from a clean, compartmentalised environment, never interacting with subjects in ways that tip them off, and handling sensitive data carefully.
In investigation, OPSEC is an ethical obligation as much as a technical one: a careless step can expose a confidential source or endanger the analyst.
A carefully maintained fake research identity used to investigate without exposing the analyst.
Keeping separate identities and activities strictly isolated so they cannot be linked.
Determining who is really behind an anonymous account, campaign, or piece of infrastructure.
Removing hidden metadata from files before sharing them.