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

Why Did We Americans Become so Cynical? At Least Those Who Think

 Cynicism is a form of counter intelligence. It materializes when the general public has been…See More
yesterday
tjdavis posted a video
yesterday
Doc Vega posted blog posts
Tuesday
cheeki kea commented on Snakedaddy's album
Thumbnail

a soon shit

"lol at first I thought this was an acronym or phase meaning an urgent trip to the lavatory but alas…"
Tuesday
tjdavis posted a video

Europe will be an Islamic Muslim State

සිංහලෙන් කියවන්න http://sinhalabuddhist.comSlavery, Terrorism and Islam: The Historical Roots and Contemporary Threat.. Adapted from Dr. Peter Hammond's book...
Monday
Sandy posted a video

A conversation with Charlotte Iserbyt

“The Deliberate Dumbing Down of America — A Chronological Paper Trail”, will change forever the way you look at your child’s education. Written by whistleblo...
Monday
Doc Vega posted a blog post

Realizations

Used to think I had something special to bringThat I was seeing what others weren't seeingThe…See More
Sunday
Burbia replied to cheeki kea's discussion Tartaria
"I forget some written language reads from right to left. The various calendars used up to now from…"
Sunday
Less Prone favorited Burbia's blog post Mystery illness strikes Russia with fever, blood symptoms, and no cure in sight.
Sunday
Less Prone commented on Burbia's blog post Mystery illness strikes Russia with fever, blood symptoms, and no cure in sight.
"Sounds like a bioweapon"
Sunday
Doc Vega commented on Doc Vega's blog post Through Her Disguise
"cheeki kea Thank you so much your words are  always inspirational. But, when the word joy…"
Sunday
Sandy posted a photo
Sunday
cheeki kea replied to cheeki kea's discussion Tartaria
"The early writing."
Saturday
cheeki kea commented on Doc Vega's blog post Through Her Disguise
"Spoken like a true poet. I wanted to reply to your comment but had to think on it for awhile. My…"
Apr 11
Doc Vega posted blog posts
Apr 10
Snakedaddy posted a photo
Apr 10
Snakedaddy commented on Snakedaddy's album
Thumbnail

a soon shit

"a soon shit"
Apr 10
Snakedaddy posted a photo
Apr 10
cheeki kea replied to cheeki kea's discussion Tartaria
"Thanks for reply Burbia. Language wise there appears to be Hungarian sub branch component to it…"
Apr 10
tjdavis posted a video

Passing Strange- Keys/ It's Alright

I do not own the rights to this video... But it is Helluva awesome.
Apr 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