User:Titus tallang/Sandbox/Operational Security

EVE Online is a game where the old adage about knowledge being power applies in full. Many a ship has been lost because one side of the fight had been informed about the other side's actions in advance. As such, EVE University has a set of guidelines designed to make casual gathering of information about current fleet operations impossible and hinder organized infiltration as much as possible. This policy is commonly referred to as "Operational Security" (short "OpSec").

Keep information on current fleet operations out of non-fleet channels

As EVE University is a large corporation that has - by EVE standards - rather lax recruitment criteria, getting an alt character on a new account into the UNI is not an impossible feat. Thus, non-fleet-specific EVE University channels should not be considered secure and information such as fleet location, composition or waypoints should not be posted there. This means that information pertaining to a currently running operation should only be posted in the Fleet channel and channels set up by fleet leadership (such as squad and/or role-specific chats). In the same vein, members that are not part of a fleet operation should refrain from joining that fleet's mumble channel unless asked to do so by the fleet commander.

Beware of social engineering

However, one of the most critical factors in maintaining operational security is a certain healthy level of paranoia. For example, answering seemingly innocent questions in a private conversation mid-fleet can easily lead to important tactical details becoming known to an enemy. To stress a cliché, there's no guarantee that the newbie that saw your fleet pass by and is asking you questions out of curiosity isn't in fact the alt of a member of a local corporation looking to get an upper hand before combat starts.

Keep critical information on a need-to-know basis

As was noted initially, no reasonable screening procedure could preempt all spies from successfully joining the University. As such, any information disclosed, even in private channels such as Fleet chat, could potentially be compromised. It is thus recommended that fleet commanders should not reveal information that is not immediately relevant to all fleet members - for example, potential arrangements for backup or the route they plan to take - to the fleet. In the same vein, the "Command" sub-channel present in all ILN fleet channels should only be populated sparingly with members of the fleet that need to be there.

Do not livestream fleets

While streaming an ongoing fleet operation to services such as TwitchTV may seem like a very exciting way to share your fleet's exploits with the world (or even merely your friends), this also prevents an extreme risk to operational security, as anyone watching your stream is provided with live updates on the fleet's location, composition and the contents of any secure chat windows you may have open. As such, EVE University does not allow its members to livestream fleet operations or publish recordings of them without permission from the fleet commander.