INFO Professor Jen Golbeck discusses the alleged security breach on the gaming app Discord.
The US military’s classified information was reportedly leaked on the gaming app, Discord, according to sources. The leak allegedly included internal memos, military assessments, and other sensitive information. The information was circulated among a group of avid gamers, some of whom are believed to be in the military.
“A lot of these guys find their social circles in these online gaming spaces, and that can be great,” says Jen Golbeck, a professor at the College of Information Studies (INFO). “But if the culture of the platform shifts to rewarding things that you shouldn’t be doing, it can be hard if you’re really invested in that social group to give that up.”
The Pentagon is investigating the incident, which has raised concerns about the security of military data, especially among younger military personnel, who are known to use gaming apps regularly. This incident underscores the importance of maintaining strict security protocols and the need for continued vigilance to prevent security breaches, which can be challenging.
“With porn, you can at least have some kind of AI that will give a rough flag at the beginning that this looks vaguely like porn,” says Golbeck. “But what looks like a classified document? They’re just documents.”
Read the full article here. Written by Sean Lyngaas on April 22, 2023. Published, by for CNN