Social media: protect yourself Published Dec. 8, 2014 By Airman 1st Class Sergio A. Gamboa 325th Fighter Wing Public Affairs TYNDALL AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. -- Social media has made safeguarding personally identifiable information more difficult for military members and their family; securing this information is vital to maintaining mission and personal integrity. Posting PII creates potential for fraud, phishing or unauthorized network access, thus weakening our ability to sustain the Air Force mission. "Any information someone puts out there, however harmless it may seem, may in fact harm others," said David Warnick, 325th Fighter Wing Plans Office operations plans chief. Things such as dates of births, home towns, family members, relationship status, political and religious views, can be used to commit identity fraud. Even geotagging your location can be used. "Posting photos and other media tagged with the exact geolocation on the Internet allows random people with the right tracking software and wrong motives to find an individual's location and can correlate it with other information someone has posted," said Warnink. Removing some of the information that others do not need to know is key to maintaining low key. "Removing vital information from social media will make you less detectable," said Master Sgt. Joshua Derezotes, 325th Fighter Wing Inspector General inspection manager. By using some of these methods and the Air Force Instruction 1-1, Air Force Standards use of social media, you are providing yourself a secure way of being operational security prepared around social media sites. Not only military members can help preventing OPSEC rules, but also their family and friends. "People need to use good situational awareness and Air Force standards when protecting their identity and who they are," said Derezotes. "Those sites are good for being in communication with family and friends but not for personal information." Though social media can be a vulnerability for the Air Force, it is also a good tool for military as well "I think it is a good resource military members can use to be in contact with Airmen. With the new generation, social media is a big part of daily life," said Derezotes. "The Air Force uses social media to get important messages out to a vast amount of Airmen and even the community as a whole. It's important to get news out to those who are affected, by being in the military or law enforcement, to go take a look at the security of their social media sites to minimize the possibilities of being a target." Some tips on using social media sites are being cautious and choosy about whom you accept as a friend. Assuming that everything posted is permanent. Also, don't forget about talking to family about social networking.