British Ministry of Defense personnel have inadvertently leaked sensitive information on social networking sites in the last eighteen months, F-Secure has revealed, resulting in ten employees being disciplined for misusing the sites.
The computer security firm uncovered the information using the Freedom of Information (FoI) Act, but could not convince the MoD to comment on what disciplinary action was taken.
While computers on the main MoD networks are blocked from visiting social networking sites, there are a few computers within the department with unrestricted internet access, FoI co-author Lewis PR said.
There are also some military bases in Afghanistan and Iraq with unrestricted access through internet cafes.
“It's amazing how many people drop their guard when they use social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter,” chief research officer Mikko Hypponen said.
The ministry has online engagement guidelines which emphasize the importance of social networking sites for personnel to communicate with their friends and family.
“Service and MOD civilian personnel are encouraged to talk about what they do, but within certain limits to protect security, reputation and privacy,” the document reads.