Wednesday, September 9, 2009

Do you Think it is a Good Idea for the Intelligence Community to Adopt Web 2.0 Tools?

There are some advantages and disadvantages of having these types of tools. However, in my own perspective, there are more disadvantages which make these types of tools not convenient in this type of community. Even though the military and the intelligence agencies are able to install many securities in their systems, it is still dangerous to share "Top Secret" Information.

The principal concern which I have is "Hackers". These people are experts in the computer field and are dedicated to steal and do illegal stuff in the computer. Those people can be located anywhere in the world and can be able to steal "Top Secret" information. It is very difficult to catch them because they can be very far away from United States and usually they are constantly moving. Top Secret information cannot be trusted in these types of community services. Even though there are many security barriers which protect that information, I would not share any important information.

One advantage is that the CIA or other intelligence agency can be able to mislead the hackers by publishing information which is totally opposite to the reality. For example, they can write that they have some powerful weapons in Italy, and the reality can be located in France. Also, they can mention that they will look for terrorist in Iran, and actually they will start looking in Afghanistan. This will help in misleading the terrorist and other criminals into the favor of United States.

I am not saying that Intelligence Agencies should not use Web 2.0 tools, but rather that confidential and "Top Secret" information should not be share at all in computer systems. Intelligence agencies can use these tools for other purposes such as talk with their families, post future meetings, communicate with each other (as a social tool), and many other ways which does not include any risk of sharing important information

Web 2.0 tools are very important tools which can be utilized, but the intelligence agencies should limit in the type of information it is placed.