US Marines ban Twitter, MySpace, Facebook

Wired Danger Room

The U.S. Marine Corps has banned Twitter, Facebook, MySpace and other social media sites from its networks, effective immediately.

“These internet sites in general are a proven haven for malicious actors and content and are particularly high risk due to information exposure, user generated content and targeting by adversaries,” reads a Marine Corps order, issued Monday. “The very nature of SNS [social network sites] creates a larger attack and exploitation window, exposes unnecessary information to adversaries and provides an easy conduit for information leakage that puts OPSEC [operational security], COMSEC [communications security], [and] personnel… at an elevated risk of compromise.”

071214-recon2

The Marines’ ban will last a year. It was drawn up in response to a late July warning from U.S. Strategic Command, which told the rest of the military it was considering a Defense Department-wide ban on the Web 2.0 sites, due to network security concerns. Scams, worms, and Trojans often spread unchecked throughout social media sites, passed along from one online friend to the next. “The mechanisms for social networking were never designed for security and filtering. They make it way too easy for people with bad intentions to push malicious code to unsuspecting users,” a Stratcom source told Danger Room.

Yet many within the Pentagon’s highest ranks find value in the Web 2.0 tools. The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff has 4,000 followers on Twitter. The Department of Defense is getting ready to unveil a new home page, packed with social media tools. The Army recently ordered all U.S. bases to provide access to Facebook. Top generals now blog from the battlefield.

“OPSEC is paramount. We will have procedures in place to deal with that,” Price Floyd, the Pentagon’s newly-appointed social media czar, told Danger Room. “What we can’t do is let security concerns trump doing business. We have to do business… We need to be everywhere men and women in uniform are and the public is. If that’s MySpace and YouTube, that’s where we need to be, too.”

The Marines say they will issue waivers to the Web 2.0 blockade, if a “mission critical need” can be proven. And they will continue to allow access to the military’s internal “SNS-like services.” But for most members of the Corps, access to the real, public social networks is now shut off for the next year.

Views: 103

Comment

You need to be a member of 12160 Social Network to add comments!

Join 12160 Social Network

Comment by Tara on August 4, 2009 at 4:07pm
Can the military coexist with social networking sites?

The Pentagon announces that it will study how best to use sites such as Twitter and Facebook while protecting Defense Department computers and sensitive information.
Comment by Maas on August 4, 2009 at 11:34am
@ Patriot Horse

I think it's a good sign overall, but will it be enough? I don't know. I've heard a lot about Adam Kokesh, but I have to admit I'm not well read up on him.

@Tara

Good pointing that out; I didn't think about that.
Comment by Tara on August 4, 2009 at 11:30am
I guess that they are still allowed to use social networking sites in their personal lives, outside of the military, as far as I've read on this issue. They just can't use it while at work or in the line of duty.
Comment by Maas on August 4, 2009 at 10:51am
I think that the idea is for all the branches of military to have their own compartmentalized social networks. Of course the military embraces will use the popular social networks for recruiting and for the promotion of the official propaganda.
Comment by Inheritor From ConCen on August 4, 2009 at 10:38am
It would require courage, but I agree with you.

"Destroying the New World Order"

TOP CONTENT THIS WEEK

THANK YOU FOR SUPPORTING THE SITE!

mobile page

12160.info/m

12160 Administrators

 

Latest Activity

Doc Vega posted a blog post

Major Technical Developments in 1960 and a Major CIA Disclosure

 In 1960, there were some very significant changes in science, flight research, and oceanography…See More
20 hours ago
Doc Vega's 5 blog posts were featured
23 hours ago
Less Prone favorited Doc Vega's blog post The Saga of Joe Adams May Have Solved What's Behind the Numerous Disappearances Going on in our National Forests
23 hours ago
Zfort Group posted a blog post
23 hours ago
Misteri joined Central Scrutinizer's group
yesterday
Misteri joined Machinegunmomma's group
Thumbnail

The Gathering

A place to meet and share contact information with people in your area as an emergency back up…See More
yesterday
Misteri is now friends with bob hob and Vladimir Putin
yesterday
Misteri updated their profile
yesterday
Profile IconMichelle Reichert and Zfort Group joined 12160 Social Network
yesterday
Burbia commented on KLC's group MUSICWARS
yesterday
cheeki kea commented on Doc Vega's blog post Plausible Explanation Behind Recent Cryptid Sightings in the Wild!
"Anythings possible mad science would bring back all of jurassic park if they could. From a birds…"
Sunday
Doc Vega posted blog posts
Saturday
Bob of the Family Renner posted photos
Friday
Doc Vega posted a blog post

Two Combat Aircraft Captured and Studied in WWII Pacific Theater

 During the heated contest of the WWII Pacific Ocean War both the US Pacific fleet and the Axis…See More
Thursday
Doc Vega posted a blog post
Wednesday
Burbia posted a photo
Aug 12
Millie P. Carlos is now a member of 12160 Social Network
Aug 12
Sandy posted videos
Aug 11
Burbia commented on Ragnarok's video
Thumbnail

Charles Manson Talks About The Global Elite

"Another group of people that get disregarded are the the Process Church.  Deaths and strange…"
Aug 10
Sandy posted a video

Captain fantastic scene (Bill of rights)

Scene from the movie "Captain fantastic"Uploader does not claim ownership of any of the footage used in this video. All credit goes to the respective owners ...
Aug 9

© 2025   Created by truth.   Powered by

Badges  |  Report an Issue  |  Terms of Service

content and site copyright 12160.info 2007-2019 - all rights reserved. unless otherwise noted