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posted by martyb on Friday May 08 2015, @05:36AM   Printer-friendly
from the watching-the-watchers dept.

The resumes of over 27,000 people working in the US intelligence community were revealed in a searchable database created by mining LinkedIn.

Transparency Toolkit said the database, called ICWatch, includes the public resumes of people working for intelligence contractors, the military and intelligence agencies.

The group said the resumes frequently mention secret codewords and surveillance programs.

"These resumes include many details about the names and functions of secret surveillance programs, including previously unknown secret codewords," Transparency Toolkit said.

To create the database, Transparency Toolkit built search software, called LookingGlass, to make it easy to browse the data. Both Looking Glass and the ICWatch data have been released on Github.

I first saw this story on Slashdot, where it is no longer available. [Here it is on Slashdot]. As of this writing, the code used to do the analysis, along with the resulting data, was still available on GitHub.

[Editor's note] These can also be found by following the links on Transparency Toolkit's Tools page.

 
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  • (Score: 3, Interesting) by frojack on Friday May 08 2015, @05:56AM

    by frojack (1554) on Friday May 08 2015, @05:56AM (#180201) Journal

    I can just imagine the outrage when turnabout becomes fair play.

    Why would you mention code-words on you Linkedin profile? Wouldn't potential employers and others shy away from someone who can't keep their mouth shut?

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  • (Score: 3, Informative) by takyon on Friday May 08 2015, @06:01AM

    by takyon (881) <takyonNO@SPAMsoylentnews.org> on Friday May 08 2015, @06:01AM (#180203) Journal

    http://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/05/07/spooks_busted_27000_profiles_reveal_new_intel_ops_home_addresses/ [theregister.co.uk]

    McGrath says the irony of blundering spooks listing OPSEC as a skill is not lost on him.

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    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday May 08 2015, @06:16AM

      by Anonymous Coward on Friday May 08 2015, @06:16AM (#180209)

      How do you find a competent spy for hire?

      • (Score: 2) by takyon on Friday May 08 2015, @06:17AM

        by takyon (881) <takyonNO@SPAMsoylentnews.org> on Friday May 08 2015, @06:17AM (#180210) Journal

        You look up "James Bond" in the phone book.

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      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday May 08 2015, @06:21AM

        by Anonymous Coward on Friday May 08 2015, @06:21AM (#180213)

        Lots of them were looking for new careers after, well, after 9-11, after Mansur al-Sharif, after AbuGhraib, after Tora Bora, after Pat Tillman, after Gitmo, after . . . . this should be enough, my fingers are tired. Of course, looking for work in the same line of expertise that you so spectacularly failed at takes some (deflated) balls, or a total lack of self awareness. Intelligence "community"= total lack of awareness. I think we have found the problem.

    • (Score: 4, Interesting) by FatPhil on Friday May 08 2015, @07:38AM

      by FatPhil (863) <{pc-soylent} {at} {asdf.fi}> on Friday May 08 2015, @07:38AM (#180228) Homepage
      The thing is, if they're listing "Dropbox" as one of their skills on their LI profile, then they're no more competent than people who put "notepad" on their CV. Which probably means they're just throwing down arbitrary keywords on their profile. (And does "PUTTY" just refer to the ssh terminal program by Simon Tatham of the same name? If so, then they're not even smart ebough to get the capitalisation right.)

      OK, this is a good way of scouring for even more accidentally-leaked keywords, but that's not news, it was done years back. I seem to remember Greenwald or someone talking about what could be manually lifted off LI profiles (and thus the discover of a whole load of new project names) about the same time Snowdon first hit the mainstream press. OK, these guys have done it ON A COMPUTER, and therefore is a new invention.
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      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday May 08 2015, @03:56PM

        by Anonymous Coward on Friday May 08 2015, @03:56PM (#180350)

        The thing is putting that junk (and it is junk) on your resume is a good idea.

        Stay with me...

        What does a HR person look for? They look for the list of junk some middle manager spewed out. They then match it up. Thats it. They do not do any more thinking than that. Missing XYZ even though XYZ is a minor tool? Tossed in the bin.

      • (Score: 2) by Geotti on Friday May 08 2015, @08:06PM

        by Geotti (1146) on Friday May 08 2015, @08:06PM (#180455) Journal

        So, by your reasoning, it's enough to put Emacs on a CV and be done with it?

        • (Score: 2) by FatPhil on Saturday May 09 2015, @07:47AM

          by FatPhil (863) <{pc-soylent} {at} {asdf.fi}> on Saturday May 09 2015, @07:47AM (#180668) Homepage
          Don't knock emacs - it's a great operating system. Shame it doesn't ship with a decent editor yet.
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          • (Score: 2) by Geotti on Saturday May 09 2015, @08:34AM

            by Geotti (1146) on Saturday May 09 2015, @08:34AM (#180687) Journal

            So emacs and vi should cover it all then. Good! [goes on to update his cv]

            • (Score: 2) by FatPhil on Saturday May 09 2015, @09:13AM

              by FatPhil (863) <{pc-soylent} {at} {asdf.fi}> on Saturday May 09 2015, @09:13AM (#180695) Homepage
              You were supposed to repsond "for that, there's M-x vi-mode".
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              • (Score: 2) by Geotti on Saturday May 09 2015, @11:27PM

                by Geotti (1146) on Saturday May 09 2015, @11:27PM (#180897) Journal

                I implied that there's M-x make coffee blackjack and hookers, but the HR manager wouldn't know about that. But point taken!

  • (Score: 2) by c0lo on Friday May 08 2015, @11:20AM

    by c0lo (156) Subscriber Badge on Friday May 08 2015, @11:20AM (#180274) Journal

    Why would you mention code-words on you Linkedin profile?

    Because the US Intelligence Community isn't necessary intelligent?
    Or are they hungry and, if Catberg doesn't see uninterrupted employment, they aren't going to get a new job.

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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday May 08 2015, @08:21PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday May 08 2015, @08:21PM (#180461)

    Why would you mention code-words on you Linkedin profile? Wouldn't potential employers and others shy away from someone who can't keep their mouth shut?

    Codeword programs actually have two names - the codeword which is unclassified and the actual program name which is classified. So as long as they use the unclassified codeword they are not doing anything wrong, being able to refer to the program in an unclassified setting is the entire point of having a codeword in the first place.