Is Twitter Dangerous?
An interesting article came up in my Google Reader tonight from Michael Krigsman of the IT Project Failures Blog on ZDNet. He discusses how Twitter is dangerous to businesses and governments due to the rapid nature information can spread. He ends with an interesting question: “Is Twitter a weak link in the security chain?”
First of all, I don’t think he is picking directly on Twitter, but the any social network tools like Twitter, Facebook, My Space, and numerous others. While I do agree that posting something on Twitter could easily reach hundreds of thousands (and possibly millions) of people in minutes. The important part is that someone has to be typing the 140 characters into Twitter to begin with. While you can loosely say Twitter is a weak link in the security chain, it is only as the facilitator. The weaker link in the security chain can be multiple other things, such as the misunderstanding of the power of Twitter or even the direct message function.
An example Michael uses is of US Congressman Pete Hoekstra (R-Michigan) tweeted information about a secret congressional envoy in Iraq. Yes, probably a bad move. However, this does not make Twitter a weak link, it makes Mr. Hoekstra a weak link to sensitive government information. Come on, this guy is a ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee! I am sure he has to handle loads of sensitive information and should know better.
You know how everyone says when you are all fired up, you should not belt out a nasty email? Perhaps the same thought should be put in before you tweet things, such as congressional information, to the world. I twittered a 140 character summary of what I wrote here to Michael and he responded with the another question: “The question is getting folks to think before tweeting confidential information. Easier said than done.“ He is absolutely correct, but how do we do it? Twitter is a great tool because it is so open. How far are we away from tweets being siphoned through company security or PR before getting posted, or is that already happening?
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