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[Victor Omega]

Pentagon leak spotlights surprising interplay between gaming and military secrets | CNN Politics

The recent leak of classified US documents on social media platform Discord seemingly caught many at the Pentagon by surprise. But it wasn’t the first time that a forum popular with online gamers had hosted military secrets, underlining a major challenge for the US national security...

edition.cnn.com

The recent leak of classified US documents on social media platform Discord seemingly caught many at the Pentagon by surprise. But it wasn’t the first time that a forum popular with online gamers had hosted military secrets, underlining a major challenge for the US national security establishment and platforms alike.

As recently as January 2023, someone on a forum for fans of the video game War Thunder reportedly published confidential information on an F-16 fighter jet. That followed reports of at least three other occasions since 2021 when War Thunder fans posted documents on British, French and Chinese tanks. These cases – which Axios also reported on in the context of the Discord leaks – typically involved users boasting of their inside knowledge of military equipment and claiming to want to make the game more realistic.

“Ego and excitement have always been strong motivations to spy,” said Triplett, who is founder of security consultancy Trenchcoat Advisors. But the group of Discord users that included Teixeira “seemed particularly indifferent to national security concerns,” which is a vulnerability... "

----

My thoughts on the topic is we as gamers should not entertain any real world leaking of sensitive information.

On Neogaf, they have made big improvement on making sure things like that doesn't happen on here.

As for discord, I'm sure their TOS is going change very soon with all the attention they are getting.

Lets have a discussion about it without getting political.

 

[feynoob]

Ego and excitement have always been strong motivations to spy

Isnt that what all leakers are all about?

 

[Victor Omega]

Isnt that what all leakers are all about?

Yes, it's no different from our own "insiders" who swear to know a guy who know a guy who's dad work at Nintendo

 

[daveonezero]

Isnt that what all leakers are all about?

No. Some are putting a spotlight on illegal illegitimate activities done in the dark.

 

[DeepEnigma]

Psyop.

 

[LordOfChaos]

I can see this becoming a new narrative about gamer ego now that the bajillionth study has dismissed all the old fear mongering about games causing real life violence.

 

[Bragr]

The interplay between gaming and military secrets?

Get a fuck outta here lol.

 

[Elder Legend]

Slow news days? Wtf is this lol.

 

[kingyala]

http://[URL]https://edition.cnn.com...ry-discord-leaks-gamers-classified/index.html

[/URL]

The recent leak of classified US documents on social media platform Discord seemingly caught many at the Pentagon by surprise. But it wasn’t the first time that a forum popular with online gamers had hosted military secrets, underlining a major challenge for the US national security establishment and platforms alike.

As recently as January 2023, someone on a forum for fans of the video game War Thunder reportedly published confidential information on an F-16 fighter jet. That followed reports of at least three other occasions since 2021 when War Thunder fans posted documents on British, French and Chinese tanks. These cases – which Axios also reported on in the context of the Discord leaks – typically involved users boasting of their inside knowledge of military equipment and claiming to want to make the game more realistic.

“Ego and excitement have always been strong motivations to spy,” said Triplett, who is founder of security consultancy Trenchcoat Advisors. But the group of Discord users that included Teixeira “seemed particularly indifferent to national security concerns,” which is a vulnerability... "

----

My thoughts on the topic is we as gamers should not entertain any real world leaking of sensitive information.

On Neogaf, they have made big improvement on making sure things like that doesn't happen on here.

As for discord, I'm sure their TOS is going change very soon with all the attention they are getting.

Lets have a discussion about it without getting political.

who cares about this political crap.... who knows what's real or fake, were here to chat about pixels not war propaganda and who leaked what top secrets in war thunder.. theres enough propaganda in cnn and bbc to feed everyone with just dont bring it here..

 

[hemo memo]

“Gaming” is ridiculously broad and played by all ages and people. Even if we separate video games from games in general like physical games, it still a ridiculously large group. Everyone on earth pretty much played at least a single video game in their lives. From Nokia Snake to Candy Crush. Even if we limit “gaming” to only console and PC, this news will still be ridiculous. C’mon.

 

[daveonezero]

This is as bad as the dude in the other thread who said people who don’t like porn are also the people shooting up schools. But it is a mainstream news story.

Edit And in this case CNN was exposed in a lie.

 

[FBeeEye]

What's the difference between a whistleblower and a spy?

 

[DeepEnigma]

What's the difference between a whistleblower and a spy?

The groups being exposed.

 

[feynoob]

What's the difference between a whistleblower and a spy?

Whistleblower is risking his life, Spy is gathering Intel, while leakers are usually after fame or ransom.
leakers are the problem here.

 

[Elysion]

Highly political news story [No Politics!]

 

[Roni]

What's the difference between a whistleblower and a spy?

The whistleblower leaks the information to the civilians of the same nation the information came from and that information is broadcast by news outlets openly. The spy leaks the information to an enemy government who uses the information in secret, without ever disclosing they know about the information.

 

[Astral Dog]

yep CNN says a lot of things

 

[Drizzlehell]

I find this funny as hell. A bunch of military nerds wanted their boring military game that they play to amuse themselves in their spare time to be more realistic, so they leaked some classified documents. Genius.

 

[The Fartist]

Don't get it twisted, this is all designed to enable more sencorship. How does a 21 year old national guard get a hold of these kinds of documents?

 

[Victor Omega]

Highly political news story [No Politics!]

The whistleblower leaks the information to the civilians of the same nation the information came from and that information is broadcast by news outlets openly. The spy leaks the information to an enemy government who uses the information in secret, without ever disclosing they know about the information.

I find this funny as hell. A bunch of military nerds wanted their boring military game that they play to amuse themselves in their spare time to be more realistic, so they leaked some classified documents. Genius.

Don't get it twisted, this is all designed to enable more sencorship. How does a 21 year old national guard get a hold of these kinds of documents?

Lets not dive too deep in the details but rather how gaming is once again a target. is it justifiable? or is it a few bad people, who happen to be gamers that give gaming as a whole this type of attention?

 

[BadBurger]

Do you think maybe it's just that the tools developed to facilitate communication between gamers on disparate platforms, at all times, are now so refined that they're naturally used for nefarious purposes such as this? Kind of a chicken and egg dilemma I guess?

 

[AncientOrigin]

What's the difference between a whistleblower and a spy?

A spy is doing mostly bad things like stealing stuff information whistleblower is reporting on true things so the people learn know about it.but are not supposed to tell those things.I give you two examples.Let’s say I am a whistleblower I work for the Pentagon and know that the pentagon want to test new drugs on the American people in a small town.I am not ok with that and tell about it some form.But if I would be a spy that means I am there to steal something in this case information to sell it to someone or a country or organization or to get something done in exchange to not make it public.Spy is always bad except if he does the spying for your country against the enemy.Whistleblower is neutral or good wants to get important information out

 

[mdkirby]

not sure how you're supposed to talk about this topic without discussing politics

 

[Dr.Morris79]

Wtf is this lol.

It's CNN, and, yeah, CNN

 

[Three]

Don't get it twisted, this is all designed to enable more sencorship. How does a 21 year old national guard get a hold of these kinds of documents?

Not censorship but surveillance.

 

[Kev Kev]

 

[TheInfamousKira]

Clearly the parasocial constraints emphasized by the leak of classified pentagon documents demonstrate an inexorable, nay, indefinite suspension of the Manned military complex in lieu of cliques of esports drones piloting literal drones to drop bombs on other drone launching facilities piloted by drones and this, in turn, is a bold statement made, a back hand and spit in the face of the youth, declining birth rate and pariah birthing social media that's being refined and fine tuned based on your input, without your consent, and I'd like to take a minute, just sit right there, and tell you how I became the Prince of this town called Bel Air.

Edit: skcoc sounds like the name of a Zelda enemy, but it's really cocks backward.

Edit 2: Turns out I misheard Will Smith and got his lyrics out of my mouth and not his wife's name. Fixed.

 

[SubZero_Wins]

It's unfortunate but certain War Thunder players feel frustration due to the way certain things are in game (Russian tanks or anything dominates in it, After all they made the game), To the point where they try to correct Gaijins glaring errors. Don't know why people even try, Seeing as the creators ignore the community.

 

[Heimdall_Xtreme]

Pentagon leak spotlights surprising interplay between gaming and military secrets | CNN Politics

The recent leak of classified US documents on social media platform Discord seemingly caught many at the Pentagon by surprise. But it wasn’t the first time that a forum popular with online gamers had hosted military secrets, underlining a major challenge for the US national security...

edition.cnn.com

The recent leak of classified US documents on social media platform Discord seemingly caught many at the Pentagon by surprise. But it wasn’t the first time that a forum popular with online gamers had hosted military secrets, underlining a major challenge for the US national security establishment and platforms alike.

As recently as January 2023, someone on a forum for fans of the video game War Thunder reportedly published confidential information on an F-16 fighter jet. That followed reports of at least three other occasions since 2021 when War Thunder fans posted documents on British, French and Chinese tanks. These cases – which Axios also reported on in the context of the Discord leaks – typically involved users boasting of their inside knowledge of military equipment and claiming to want to make the game more realistic.

“Ego and excitement have always been strong motivations to spy,” said Triplett, who is founder of security consultancy Trenchcoat Advisors. But the group of Discord users that included Teixeira “seemed particularly indifferent to national security concerns,” which is a vulnerability... "

----

My thoughts on the topic is we as gamers should not entertain any real world leaking of sensitive information.

On Neogaf, they have made big improvement on making sure things like that doesn't happen on here.

As for discord, I'm sure their TOS is going change very soon with all the attention they are getting.

Lets have a discussion about it without getting political.

They are going to start with the same .



It is so easy to blame video games, but they do not try to solve the root of the problem... Starting with promoting health and warning the effects of fentanyl... And prohibiting the sale of weapons or addressing the cause of violence.

They don't even spread the damage in the media, but of course let's make consuming marijuana Its legal in the NBA

But of course!!! Video games are the devil

 

[diffusionx]

People forget that the Pentagon fully funded and developed a video game franchise (America's Army) for two decades including a PS4 port. They did it as a recruiting tool. Military wants gamers to be interested in their bullshit and this comes with the territory.

 

[Roni]

Lets not dive too deep in the details but rather how gaming is once again a target. is it justifiable? or is it a few bad people, who happen to be gamers that give gaming as a whole this type of attention?

Play any multiplayer shooter for long enough and you will have a story about an insane exchange between dudebros in voice chat.

Gaming is littered with society's leftovers and it, of course, is a niche worth scrutiny. Perhaps gamers themselves should stand for better discourse on games to weed out this plague. Now society is getting more and more reasons to monitor the space with impunity.

 

[The Fartist]

They are going to start with the same .



It is so easy to blame video games, but they do not try to solve the root of the problem... Starting with promoting health and warning the effects of fentanyl... And prohibiting the sale of weapons or addressing the cause of violence.

They don't even spread the damage in the media, but of course let's make consuming marijuana Its legal in the NBA

But of course!!! Video games are the devil

 

[ozz ex machina]

No. Some are putting a spotlight on illegal illegitimate activities done in the dark.

The real heroes are actually the ones who whistleblow on game developers who are on great salaries, working their dream jobs, but sometimes they are asked to do paid overtime because they don't know how to properly run projects. I can't wait for the Schrier biopic personally. Eat your heart out snowden.

 

[HeisenbergFX4]

Yes, it's no different from our own "insiders" who swear to know a guy who know a guy who's dad work at Nintendo

 

[xiskza]

Dont trust anything that comes out of CNN

 

[ReBurn]

Dont trust anything that comes out of CNN

These days CNN is 80% opinion and analysis and 20% news.

 

[xiskza]

These days CNN is 80% opinion and analysis and 20% news.

20% you're way more generous than me

 

[brian0057]

Intelligence agencies ain't got shit on the War Thunder forums.

 

[SubZero_Wins]

Intelligence agencies ain't got shit on the War Thunder forums.

Some of the arguments I've seen over ballistics, tank armor, etc... lol.

 

[GMCamaro]

New keywords added for flagging on the monitored online PlayStation and XBOX chat.

 

[Victor Omega]

yep CNN says a lot of things

It's CNN, and, yeah, CNN

Dont trust anything that comes out of CNN

These days CNN is 80% opinion and analysis and 20% news.

20% you're way more generous than me

Lets curb our general thoughts of the news outlet itself and stay on the status quo, which is gaming. It's this very diversion into opinions that could lead us or any gaming community into a discord situation.

Also, realize, if the same analysis was done on the writer of the OP's article, you would find there are actually journalist who still believe in analysis and research regardless of what news organization they write for.

CNN Profiles - Sean Lyngaas - Cybersecurity Reporter | CNN

Sean Lyngaas is CNN’s cybersecurity reporter.

edition.cnn.com

 

[ripjoel]

It's just autism.

 

[Teletraan1]

Again this is just more crying about leakers and attempting to use it as a justification for surveillance and censorship rather than delving into what he leaked. Does anyone feel it is acceptable for US troops to be on the ground in Ukraine in secret while your administration lies about it? Why isn't that the issue at hand, not scrutinization of discussion on message boards. I guess if I am not allowed to talk about things here then nuke me or this thread. Also never make fun of resetera again for banning the discussion of topics because that is hypocritical.

 

[ReBurn]

Lets curb our general thoughts of the news outlet itself and stay on the status quo, which is gaming. It's this very diversion into opinions that could lead us or any gaming community into a discord situation.

Also, realize, if the same analysis was done on the writer of the OP's article, you would find there are actually journalist who still believe in analysis and research regardless of what news organization they write for.

CNN Profiles - Sean Lyngaas - Cybersecurity Reporter | CNN

Sean Lyngaas is CNN’s cybersecurity reporter.

edition.cnn.com

Well...no. You can't use the bio blurb on CNN's website as a way to separate the author from CNN. These people aren't independent from their employer when their work is done for their employer and presented by their employer. You can't go "just trust my source and focus on gaming" when your source, based on your screenshot, isn't known as any kind of expert in gaming culture or how information flows in gaming communities, especially when the outlet they represent is known for running biased analysis as top news headlines instead of just reporting actual news.

The point I'm making is that reporters report and journalists embellish. Doing research and analysis is fine, but when pre-determined conclusions based on that research and analysis are presented as the news...that's where the credibility of the outlet, and by proxy the people who work for the outlet, declines.

This article is a good example of what makes me not trust an author based on their employer. It starts with the premise that there is some dubious connection between gaming communities and the spread of illegal classified government information using the leak by the guy who works for the military as proof. Then the author goes on a journey to find support for that premise. They point to examples of people posting classified information about military tech that has been in service for decades that has been used and serviced by countless people. Then they seek the opinion of some college professor who also knows nothing specifically about gaming. Typical CNN analysis and presentation.

We should take it as the unsubstantiated opinion piece it is. It doesn't prove the premise in the clickbait title. But we know most people never read past the title. What it actually found is that people want to be big shots in the communities they participate in and having insider information raises your clout. Not unique to gaming forums and something we already knew.

 

[daveonezero]

Lets curb our general thoughts of the news outlet itself and stay on the status quo, which is gaming. It's this very diversion into opinions that could lead us or any gaming community into a discord situation.

Also, realize, if the same analysis was done on the writer of the OP's article, you would find there are actually journalist who still believe in analysis and research regardless of what news organization they write for.

CNN Profiles - Sean Lyngaas - Cybersecurity Reporter | CNN

Sean Lyngaas is CNN’s cybersecurity reporter.

edition.cnn.com

They literally reported things contrary to the leak for a year....CNN and their government partners are upset for letting this happen because it made them look bad.

 

[BouncyFrag]

The groups being exposed.

 

[TheThreadsThatBindUs]

I don't have much to contribute to this subject other than pleading with gamers not to share state secrets they might be privileged to be in the know of...

....unless that shit has something to do with aliens/UFOs.

When it comes to our extraterrestrial brethren, screw national security. We need to be able to answer the most important, most existential question of our time as raised by games like Mass Effect...

Spoiler

Can we bang them hot blue alien bitches?