Soldiers posting classified data, photos on Facebook

“I`ll be away to participate in a two-week company tactical drill and battalion general tactical drill and then come back.”

An active-duty lieutenant of the Korean Army recently uploaded on Facebook photos of armored vehicles in queue that were about to maneuver for a nighttime drill in addition to news on the exercise. The photo showed armored vehicles with vehicle ID numbers and weapons attached.

On March 18, the officer also uploaded a photo he took at the barracks together with about 10 colleagues at his unit clad in uniform with the unit’s logo and insignias. His colleagues were armed with rifles and nighttime goggles. The photo also showed a banner reading, “Gearing up for 5-minute emergency mobilization squad.” A colleague posted the comment, “This would violate security rules...hahaha.” The lieutenant also uploaded a photo of the cover of a document folder, reading “Tactical drill assessment.”

The photo was deleted, but a search in the officer’s Facebook allows one to easily trace which company of which unit he is affiliated with, and where the unit is situated.

Many military officers and soldiers are uploading on social network service photos and comments that could expose classified military information. Because social networking sites by nature can directly expose where and when the host uploaded the photo, visitors can easily figure out the location of the unit and daily schedules of the host.

Lee Pil-joong, a professor of military science at Daejeon University, said, “Since a visitor can estimate the specifications of weapons and facilities through the size of the person taken in a photo, social networking site postings effectively provide the enemy with classified information on a Korean unit.”

Even rank-and-file soldiers as well as officers are also uploading photos on social networking services with their smartphones though they are banned from owning mobile phones.

A lieutenant with a unit in the Seoul metropolitan region said, “Inspection of belongings is thoroughly done to ensure military security, but it is virtually impossible to completely prevent rank-and-file soldiers from owning smartphones.”

A soldier from the 5-minute emergency mobilization squad at a unit in Gyeonggi Province uploaded a photo of weapons on Facebook, and an administrative supply officer deleted the photos later on.

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