Taliban pose as women to friend soldiers on Facebook
Taliban insurgents have posed as "attractive women" on Facebook to befriend soldiers and gather intelligence about operations, an Australian defence study has claimed.
Australian soliders are being warned of the risks of fake profiles and betraying sensitive information on social networking sites, such as Facebook, whilst stationed in Afghanistan Photo: Alamy
By Ben Farmer, Kabul
2:54PM BST 11 Sep 2012
Australian soldiers are now being given briefings before they deploy to Afghanistan to warn of the risk of fake profiles being used to collect information.
Soldiers also risk betraying sensitive information by posting pictures or updates tagged with their location, according to the federal government review of social media use in the armed forces.
The review, reported by Australia's Sunday Telegraph newspaper, warns troops to beware of "fake profiles – media personnel and enemies create fake profiles to gather information.
"For example, the Taliban have used pictures of attractive women as the front of their Facebook profiles and have befriended soldiers."
Many of those surveyed for the review were overly trusting of social media contacts and complacent of the risks of divulging information.
It warned: "Most did not recognise that people using fake profiles, perhaps masquerading as school friends, could capture information and movements. Few consider the possibilities of data mining and how patterns of behaviour can be identified over time."
The newspaper said the review also recommended friends and family of troops be warned of the dangers of giving away information including soldier's names, ranks and locations on social media.
Several soldiers interviewed for the review suggested a blanket ban on social media sites.
"I see too many members who post info/pics of themselves which identify ... what unit they belong to and where they are serving," one said.
The Australian Department of Defence was working on a new set of social media guidelines for troops, the newspaper reported.
