Taliban pose as ‘attractive women, on Facebook for spying

September 11th, 2012 2:00 am by Alejendro

Source: Hindustan Times

Taliban insurgents are posing as “attractive women” on Facebook to befriend coalition soldiers for gathering sensitive intelligence about operations in Afghanistan, an Australian government report has warned. The dangers of social media have been pointed out in a federal government review of social media and defence, which was finalised in March but has not been acted upon, Defence sources said.

The review found an “overt reliance” on privacy settings had led to “a false sense of security” among personnel.

The review 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.”

Australian soldiers are now being given pre-deployment briefings about enemies creating fake profiles to spy on troops.

Personnel are also being warned that geo-tagging, a function of many websites that secretly logs the location from where a post is made or a photo is uploaded, is a significant danger.

Family and friends of soldiers are inadvertently jeopardising missions by sharing confidential information online, Australia’s Daily Telegraph reported.

Three Australian soldiers were this month murdered inside their base, allegedly by an Afghan Army trainee.

Many of the 1577 defence members surveyed for the review had no awareness of the risk, it said, adding 58% of defence staff had no social media training.

Surveyed troops said social media open “a whole can of worms when it comes to operational, personnel and physical security”.

“Many individuals who use social media are extremely trusting,” the review said.

“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 review added.

The review recommended education for family and friends on the dangers of sharing details like names, ranks and locations. Several troop members have argued for a total social media ban.

“I see too many members who post info/pics of themselves which identify … what unit they belong to and where they are serving,” a soldier said.

Security expert Peter Hannay, from Edith Cowan University’s school of computer and security science, said geo-tag information “can be data-mined and sold to anybody”.

P.S. Strategy chu bei dangdai a sin. :-P

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10 Responses to “Taliban pose as ‘attractive women, on Facebook for spying”

  1. 1
    chhangteval Says:

    Fake profile te chu an hriat hran e.. te ka tia (T)

    Report this comment

  2. 2
    H.Vangchhia Says:

    Chemtatrawta khan va suasam vak hlawm sela ti nia, a ni kha a tawngkam ralkhatah a huai ping peng bawk a, an hlau khawp ang chu :P

    Report this comment

  3. 3
    sheldon Says:

    Tukchhuah nuam vek u le (L)

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  4. 4
    Phivawk Says:

    Bei dangdai ang reng. Profile pic tam tak hi tak tak emaw tiho chu taliban-ho thangah an awk fur dawn nih chu…

    Report this comment

  5. 5
    PKfanai Says:

    A bengvar thlak hle mai a. Fimkhur tawk thiam hi chu a tha reng mai, a bikin security persönnel ral rama awm te tan a tul lehzual khawp ang. Technical term a tam a, hriatthiam vek a awlai lo zèk mai.

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  6. 6
    Awmtea Khiangte Says:

    thil eng eng emaw hi an ti peih khawp mai

    Report this comment

  7. 7
    Charice_mizo Says:

    fimkhur a ngai dawn hle mai, inven sen hi a har thin si a.

    Report this comment

  8. 8
    Puii Says:

    He thu chu a pawimawh nen a va hit lo ve… (Y)

    Taliban chauh lo pawh hian fake profile siam kan ching khop tih a hriat reng mai… :-$

    CM Pu Hawla fake profile pawh kan hriat nial tawh kha (&)

    A Zo,a Vai, a sap, a mingo, a mihang mipa fake account nei an tam zia hi…..Hmeichhiaa inchhal an la ching zui… ;-)

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  9. 9
    Dr Mahminga Sailo Says:

    Kan profile picture leh hming hman duh reng reng te hi.. (N) sawi leh lo mai ang, phunchiar tih kan ni zel si… (H)

    Nikum khan, Pakistan tlangval pakhat chuan, a profile picture atan nula hmeltha tak hmangin min be hrep tawh. Mahse, misual a ni lem lo, a hnuah amah leh amah a rawn insawifiah a. Lawmthu ka hrilh hnuah, ka friend list atangin ka paih hmiah… :-)

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  10. 10
    Sartorius Says:

    Taliban ho kan friend list ah hian an lo awm tun mai ang a…lol :-O

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