Australian defense warned on social media

KERANG, Australia, Dec. 13 (UPI) -- An Australian analyst has expressed concerns about the rising use of social networking among the countries defense forces.

Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology senior lecturer Mark Gregory, who has experience in network security, expressed concern that information posted by Australian defense personnel on social networking sites, such as Facebook and Twitter could be exploited by enemies of the country.

"Every power builds up profiles of the people who lead other militaries. That's just the Rules of War 101," Gregory said. "Warfare is going to be about impersonating people and convincing others to carry out tasks based on false information."

Gregory, in a report in The Northern Times and other Australian media, recommended that "on the day these cadets enlist, their entire electronic lives be erased."

"They should have no Facebook accounts, no Google accounts, no iTunes accounts. They should not exist on digital networks until they retire from Defense," Gregory said.

"These people will be the leaders of our military for the next 30 years. Warfare is going to be about impersonating people and convincing others to carry out tasks based on false information."