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In a flashback to the Red Scares of the last century, a data protection expert has warned that the Chinese military may be monitoring western social networks.
According to London-based data protection agency Data Defender, most people can relax – the Chinese military aren’t really interested in what you ate for breakfast this morning – instead they may be looking at the location and status updates of military personnel.
“Let me give you an example – say a foreign Government want details on the numbers, skills and location of a certain aspect of the British Military. All they need to do is get onto Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter,” said Data Defender’s security director, Graeme Batsman.
“For example, on LinkedIn there’s a group dedicated to Royal Marine Personnel – from that you can get a list of names as well as their rank, where they studied, their unit and photo. The next stop is over to Facebook to find out their location, religious beliefs, political party memberships and spouse’s name, often without being a friend.
“When you’re armed with this, a quick search for them on Twitter is likely to reveal exactly what their up to – as members of the Armed Forces are known to regularly post their location, even while on a foreign tour of duty.”
