All British spies are supposed to be super cool and always undercover just like James Bond, right? Eh, not so much. The new head of Britain’s MI6 service has been exposed in a major security breach after his wife posted intimate details of their life on Facebook.
Sir John Sawers is supposed to become head of the Secret Intelligence Service in November which makes him chief of all of Britain’s overseas spying operations. Unfortunately for Sawer, his wife apparently doesn’t know about privacy settings on Facebook.
Sawer’s wife posted details about where they live and work, who their friends are and even where they go on vacation (complete with the requisite embarrassing vacation photos). Knowing where the head of intelligence lives and where each member of his family lives obviously creates a serious security problem. Sawer’s details have been available to anyone in the ‘London’ network, meaning that virtually any of Facebook’s 200 million users could access their page.
Among other embarrassments, Sawer’s wife revealed that the soon-to-be intelligence chief’s brother in law is a controversial Right-wing historian and Holocaust denier.
So the moral of the story is: know your privacy settings and use them. Especially if you’re about to be appointed head of a major intelligence agency.
Mon, Jul 6, 2009
Entertainment