Social Media - DoD's Greatest Information Sharing Tool or Weakest Security Link

摘要

This paper will consider the current use of Social Media in the Department of Defense (DoD): review current policies, review current use of this medium by DoD, and analyze the impact of a new DoD Directive regarding use of Social Media on military networks. Social Media include many that are used primarily for distributing what is referred to as Strategic Communications (or Public Affairs Office/PAO) information - Facebook, Twitter, and various milblogs are examples. Other Social Media can be defined as Information Sharing portals Army Knowledge Online, unit home pages, and DefenseLink.mil being three prime examples. There are two overarching concerns with the use of Social Media - particularly Facebook and Twitter: Operations Security (OPSEC) and network security (or the perceived increase in risk to the DoD network through exposure to these commercial sites). This paper will review the current policies regarding Social Media use in DoD and provide an analysis regarding the appropriateness and effectiveness of these policies in securing the information network.