The sense of alarm has faded a bit over recent tweets and Facebook messages that threatened some military families after a military spouse's accounts were hacked.

But it's still a good time for military families to review their own cyber safety and take steps to lessen the risks — both the service member who is deployed or otherwise away from home and the family that stays behind.

Service members are constantly cautioned to be mindful of "operational security." That means being careful about making public statements regarding deployments — including information about troop movements, missions, timing and locations — so that bad guys can't potentially use that information to jeopardize mission security.

But with the ongoing explosion of social media in recent years, operational security concerns also extend to family members left behind during deployments.

Military families often have friends and relatives around the country and world and use social media to stay connected. While you may not have all your identifying information — last name, address, military status and more — in one place, it's not hard for an Internet-savvy bad actor to piece that information together.

"Once something is shared on social media, it never truly goes away — even if you have deleted something you have posted," the Defense Department's social media guide warns. DoD advises caution about sharing the following information on social media, the Internet or mobile devices:

Specific return and arrival dates. Before the next deployment or temporary duty assignment, plan to exchange information about the dates in some sort of code.

Location. Remind your service member to turn off the mapping device on his or her phone during deployment.

Personal information. This can include phone numbers, addresses, schools, birthdays, passwords, financial information, Social Security or other identification numbers, and travel times and patterns.

The default for most social media platforms is to share your information publicly; to dial that back, you must adjust privacy settings on each social media platform.

Some officials have advised troops to remove references to military or government affiliation from personal social media accounts.

Spouses should be mindful of that, too. For example, you might want to consider removing references to where you work in your Facebook description and "proud Army wife" from your Twitter bio, wrote military spouse Mandy Culver, in a Feb. 16 blog about cyber safety.

Culver keeps a tight grip on her privacy settings. "I don't want to stop sharing pictures of my kids or husband, but my settings are locked up tight so people I don't know can't access my stuff," she wrote. "And I have to check those settings often, because Facebook is always making changes."

Culver also said she just doesn't accept friend requests or followers from people she doesn't know.

And she keeps an eye out for anomalies on friends' accounts. "If you see something strange on a friend's social media, let them know," she wrote. "If you notice someone using 'looser' privacy tactics, give them suggestions."

Karen has covered military families, quality of life and consumer issues for Military Times for more than 30 years, and is co-author of a chapter on media coverage of military families in the book "A Battle Plan for Supporting Military Families." She previously worked for newspapers in Guam, Norfolk, Jacksonville, Fla., and Athens, Ga.

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