OSINT game: What happens on a boat does NOT stay on the boat
You CAN be geolocated to a body of water. Remember this next time you post vacation photos.
The other day, I asked my followers if they could figure out where this particular photo was taken:
People had a really hard time with this one! And it’s understandable. It would appear to be much more difficult than my usual geolocation challenges, because it’s on the water!
When we’re used to looking out for street signs and billboards, we can easily give up. Do stalkers give up, though? Not really (certainly not in my experience, sadly). And neither will any potential foreign agents who may or may not be tracking you right now (chances are, they’re not, but if you have a sensitive job, it’s best to just assume that they could be).
For this challenge, I wanted to act like a typical happy tourist. I was posting pictures in advance, acting as if I were disregarding potential privacy concerns. Two people, one of whom wished to remain anonymous and the other, who is Jonny Klemchuk, picked up exactly on what what was going on:
Unfortunately, even when I ask my followers to act just a little bit creepy — for the sake or proving a point — they can get uncomfortable. So it was up to Jonny and my anonymous friend to point out the picture I had posted a few days before:
Notice anything?
Here, let me help you:
There it is. The map that’s telling you exactly where to begin your search.
Other observations were also very helpful, including this one by CD Reiss (who didn’t have time to go for gold as she began to get distracted by all of the beautiful real estate, but we won’t hold that against her, real estate is its own kind of pornography):
Checking out local weather patterns also helps narrow down the field!
Which is how we got to this being sent to me by my friend who chose to remain anonymous because of how damn creepy the exercise made him feel:
Notice that familiar coastline?
That’s right! THIS is what you can get off of Google Street View, at the Pirate’s Cove restaurant.
My original photo was taken in the West River! (Please note that in MY photo, the house that’s clearly visible on Google but looks to be partially obscured by trees is entirely obscured — the dock is still there, however)
Why is this important besides the fact that Pirates Cove has tasty food and dropping anchor in the West River is absolutely lovely on a good day?
A lot of people have a false sense of security when they get on a boat — and I don’t mean just in terms of downing eight beers and forgetting to have anyone at the helm.
We think the rules are different on the water, but they are not. As hard as this geolocation challenge SEEMED, once you got into a stalker’s mindset, it was actually pretty easy.
The reason why I want normal people to understand this is because thinking like a stalker can help you in a dicey situation — if you suspect that you’re being watched, if you’re in the middle of a nasty divorce, if you have a creepy boss, and so on, and so forth — you can guard your information better and figure out what’s safe and what’s not so safe.
You can also figure out how information can leak and intel can be gathered (assume that those pictures weren’t taken by me, but by a friend with a public account, who then chose to tag me), and act accordingly.
Much like an artist, a stalker (or a Russian spy) has their own process — reverse-engineering that process and applying it to regular life can help you safeguard yourself if you need to. This will give you more peace of mind. And peace of mind is a hot commodity right now.
With big thanks to Bob Bateman, who is kind enough to take us sailing.
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