One of the reason that Team Kimberlin lost all of their LOLsuits over the past decade or so is that they don’t pay attention to important details. This routinely led to them having problems with OPSEC.

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OPSEC or Operational Security is the process of protecting little bits of data that could be grouped together to give the bigger picture. During my service in the Signal Corps, a significant portion of my work revolved around keeping information hidden from potential enemy access.

I especially remember one particular breach of OPSEC in Viet Nam. There was a major who thought that he was too important to have to bother with the rules. One day, he got in a hurry and decided that he didn’t have to get up and walk a couple of hundred feet to where an encrypted radio was installed. He used the radio in his jeep to send a very brief message that would have no tactical value after about a half-hour. The VC were listening, they figured out what was going on, and—15 minutes later—a landing zone took mortar fire just as a general’s helicopter was landing. There were no casualties, except for that major’s career.

Here’s another example of poor OPSEC. pbrstreetgang.org is one of the domains associated with others owned or controlled by Team Kimberlin. Bill Schmalfeldt published an email with this header just over a week ago. The version below has part of the Bcc line redacted. The original doesn’t. Can you bust someone back to a rank lower than Cabin Boy?

Incoming!

UPDATE—Several people have wondered how I received an email not addressed me. I didn’t. A .png image of the email was published on Twitter.

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The easiest way to discredit Bill Schmalfeldt is to quote Bill Schmalfeldt.

—Stacy McCain