OPSEC stands for and core purpose?

• A. Open Security; to share threat intelligence publicly.
• B. Operations Security; to identify critical information and protect indicators that could reveal vulnerabilities.
• C. Organizational Security; to protect facilities from theft.
• D. Operational Safety; to prevent workplace accidents.

Answer: (B)

OPSEC is about protecting sensitive information by identifying critical information and the indicators that could reveal vulnerabilities. The key idea is to analyze what information, if exposed, could enable an adversary to harm operations, and then put measures in place to hide or reduce those indicators. This means looking at data that might seem harmless on its own but could be combined with other details to expose plans, capabilities, or weaknesses, and then controlling or mitigating how that information is shared or observed.

The correct choice captures this focus: Operations Security, with the goal of identifying critical information and protecting indicators that could reveal vulnerabilities. The other options describe different concepts—for example, sharing threat intelligence publicly undermines OPSEC, a term like Organizational Security refers to a broader, non-specific idea, and Operational Safety deals with preventing workplace accidents rather than safeguarding information.