Use your common sense, don’t be an idiot - Social Media Security Attitudes amongst Partners of Australian Defence Force Personnel

Partners of serving Australian Defence Force (ADF) members use social media platforms for sharing information and building communities. As privileged insiders, the interactions of partners on Facebook create unique security concerns. This paper examines partner attitudes towards social media security. This paper demonstrates that partners consider themselves security  conscious, taking their role in protecting the member and the mission seriously. In the absence of direct advice from the ADF, partners receive information about social media security from peers and civilian sources. This paper offers suggestions which will increase the effectiveness of social media security education for partners.