The practice is known as "doxing" and may include the unauthorized release of information such as home addresses, phone numbers, email addresses and passwords.
"Law enforcement personnel and public officials need to maintain an enhanced awareness of the content they post and how it may reflect on themselves, their family, their employer or how it could be used against them in court or during online attacks," the April 21 alert said.
IC3 is partnership of the FBI and the White Collar Crime Center.
The bulletin does not mention why law enforcement and public officials are increasingly being targeted. But recent headlines about officer-involved shootings and police tactics could be one reason.
IC3 provided some guidelines for minimizing the risk of being victimized by a cyberbreach or doxing attack:
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Turn on all privacy settings on social media sites and refrain from posting pictures showing your affiliation to law enforcement.
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Be aware of your security settings on your home computers and wireless networks.
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Limit your personal postings on media sites and carefully consider comments.
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Restrict your driver’s license and vehicle registration information with the Department of Motor Vehicles.
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Request real estate and personal property records be restricted from online searches with your specific county.
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Routinely update hardware and software applications, including antivirus.
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Pay close attention to all work and personal emails, especially those containing attachments or links to other websites. These suspicious or phishing emails may contain infected attachments or links.
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Routinely conduct online searches of your name to identify what public information is already available.
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Enable additional email security measures to include two-factor authentication on your personal email accounts. This is a security feature offered by many email providers. The feature will cause a text message to be sent to your mobile device prior to accessing your email account.
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Closely monitor your credit and banking accounts for fraudulent activity.
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Passwords should be changed regularly. It is recommended to use a password phrase of 15 characters or more. Example of a password phrase: Thisisthemonthofseptember,2014.
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Be aware of pretext or suspicious phone calls or emails from people phishing for information or pretending to know you. Social engineering is a skill often used to trick you into divulging confidential information and continues to be an extremely effective method for criminals.
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Advise family members to turn on security settings on ALL social media accounts. Family member associations are public information and family members can become online targets of opportunity.
