As VSOs face cyber threats, those they serve can help protect themselves
Scammers typically use technology to do the heavy lifting and avoid meeting in person. They use social media to create a fake persona or hack into other people’s profiles and con their friends and family members. They can even clip the victim’s voice through a telephone call and use AI software to replicate the victim’s voice and proceed to call loved ones of the victim usually asking for money.
Trust is the lifeblood of the military community. Veterans, service members and the organizations that support them rely on strong relationships – between nonprofits and partners, families and caregivers, and the institutions built to honor that service. Today, that trust is increasingly under attack.
Our two organizations – the Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors (TAPS) and We the Veterans and Military Families – have spent years cultivating those relationships. Lately, we have also been building something else: resilience against a new and sophisticated wave of online threats targeting veterans and military families and organizations that serve them.
Our organizations are targeted on a regular basis. Attackers are using artificial intelligence tools to impersonate trusted partners and vendors, attempting to infiltrate the digital systems of our organizations. These attacks don’t rely on brute force, they prey on the trust members give to these organizations – which is precisely what makes them so dangerous.
Recently, TAPS was the target of one of these attempted attacks, through a tactic known as a “drive-by download,” where once a link is interacted with, the cyber attackers silently install a malicious Google Chrome extension on the device. This malware is not always detected by anti-virus programs.
TAPS has built strong internal capacity to meet this threat head-on. Our technology team has worked to keep the organization safe and operational in the face of increasingly sophisticated attacks.
TAPS is not alone. Veteran service organizations across our community are being targeted by increasingly sophisticated cyber criminals. Many of these attacks now use generative AI to make impersonations more convincing.
History shows that global unrest is jet fuel for these schemes, and given the ongoing conflict with Iran, foreign adversaries and criminal actors have been moving quickly to exploit the fear, urgency and uncertainty of this moment. According to the Federal Trade Commission, military consumers filed more than 99,000 fraud complaints in 2024; nearly 43,000 of those involved impostor scams. Those scams alone cost military families an estimated $178 million.
That is why TAPS and We the Veterans and Military Families are stepping up and speaking out.
We the Veterans’ Homefront Sentinel program strengthens cyber awareness across our community and, in partnership with TAPS, we are creating a rapid-response network connecting technology leaders from veteran and military service and engagement organizations to share best practices, exchange threat intelligence, and provide mutual support when incidents arise. When one organization encounters a threat, every organization benefits from what is learned. Our community knows that awareness is one of the most powerful defenses available: the more vigilant we are, the harder it is for our adversaries to succeed.
Protecting our community cannot stop at the organizational level. Every service member, veteran and military family member plays a role in strengthening our collective defenses. Some of the most effective protections are also the simplest:
1) Be skeptical of unsolicited messages, especially those that create urgency, demand secrecy, or request money. Scrutinize the sender’s email address. Scammers rely on pressure and perceived trust to override judgment.
2) Never send gift cards, wire transfers, or cryptocurrency to someone you have only met online. These payment methods are favored by fraudsters precisely because they are difficult to trace or recover.
3) Verify identities independently. If a vendor or partner sends an unexpected request – particularly one involving payment or account changes – confirm through a separate channel using contact information you already have on file.
Awareness is our greatest defense. The more informed our community is, the harder we are to exploit. Scammers are using AI to target American military families. Foreign adversaries are using periods of global instability to sharpen that targeting. But this community has spent generations identifying threats and responding with discipline, solidarity and purpose. By staying vigilant and sharing information, the military community can lead the way in showing America how to defend itself in the digital age.
ABOUT THE AUTHORS: Ellen Gustafson is a Navy spouse and the co-founder and executive director of We the Veterans and Military Families. Tim Murray retired as a first sergeant in the U.S. Army and is the vice president of technology of TAPS.