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People are making fun of this guy and his girlfriend, but I want to push back a bit. Yes, this was stupid. But it is very unlikely that his girlfriend’s instagram was the instrumental part of his capture. Regardless however, with or without the Instagram he would’ve been caught. The modern age is one where most activities are linked to an identity. His time was limited from the start.

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But there is still a relevant lesson learned to extract from here. The problem with secrecy is that other people don’t practice the same level of care as you. If you avoid having a mobile phone, your friends won’t. If you’re not on Facebook, they’ll build a shadow profile of you and it’ll get populated as your friends interact around you.

Allen Dulles, in his 73 rules of Spycraft, lamented the rise of technology that exposed the case officer to the tradecraft of amateurs.

The greatest vice in the game is that of carelessness. Mistakes made generally cannot Mistakes be rectified.

The greatest material curse to the profession, despite all its advantages, is undoubtedly the telephone. It is a constant source of temptation to slackness. And even if you do not use it carelessly yourself, the other fellow, very often will, so in any case, warn him. Always act on the principle that every conversation is listened to, that a call may always give the enemy a line. Naturally, always unplug during confidential conversations. Even better is it to have no phone in your room, or else have it in a box or cupboard.

vx-underground @vxunderground

Mark Sokolovsky, a Ukrainian and the alleged author of Raccoon Stealer, was arrested in the Netherlands in March, 2022 with the accidental help of his girlfriend