“How You’d Be Tracked”: Inside the First 72 Hours of Targeting

Jul 15

You Don’t Need to Be Followed to Be Watched

When high-value individuals hear “surveillance,” they think dark cars or hidden cameras. But elite threat actors operate quietly — collecting data, not triggering alarms.

The first 72 hours of a real-world targeting operation don’t involve contact. They involve collection — from open sources, passive observation, and behavioral tracking.

This is how they do it.

Phase 1: Baseline Collection (Day 0–1)

The goal here is to confirm you’re worth tracking.

Tactics:

Social media recon (geotags, relationships, patterns)
Public records and business affiliations
Physical observation of property and vehicles
Passive digital monitoring (e.g., Wi-Fi SSID collection)

What They’re Looking For:

Daily schedule
Asset locations (home, office, secondary residences)
Routine vulnerabilities (solo travel, family isolation)
Soft touchpoints (kids, assistants, house staff)

🛑 Counter:
Have you ever mapped yourself the way a stranger would? That’s the baseline we deliver in a Vulnerability Snapshot.

Phase 2: Pattern Mapping (Day 2–3)

Once value is confirmed, the actor starts tracking for rhythm.

Tactics:

Vehicle tailing with staggered observation teams
Surveillance from public-access points (e.g., cafés, gyms, lobbies)
Behavioral triggers: when you leave, who you meet, what routes you prefer
Background intel from local sources or insiders

What They’re Watching:

Consistency — same car, same path, same time
Gaps in your routine (when you’re alone, distracted, or predictable)
Environmental control (places where you don’t notice being watched)

🛑 Counter:
Vary your movements. Use decoy behaviors. Learn to detect the small shifts — a new face, the same car, subtle timing lags. We train clients in Situational Tradecraft 101 for this exact reason.

Phase 3: Decision Point (Day 3+)

The final stage: Is the target worth moving on?

At this point, your exposure has been mapped. Your defenses have been tested. The attacker decides whether to:

Engage (theft, approach, breach)
Escalate (stalking, pressure, blackmail)
Wait (longer-term exploitation)
Drop (if the risk outweighs the reward)

🛑 Counter:
Most people never know they were evaluated — until after the fact. Our “How You’d Be Tracked” Brief flips the script: we show you exactly how a threat actor would set up on you — and how to interrupt that process before it starts.