( WIRED ) -- The U.S. Marine Corps has banned Twitter , Facebook , MySpace and other social media sites from its networks , effective immediately . The Marine Corps fears that social media sites such as Facebook could pose a security risk . `` These internet sites in general are a proven haven for malicious actors and content and are particularly high risk due to information exposure , user generated content and targeting by adversaries , '' reads a Marine Corps order , issued Monday . `` The very nature of SNS [ social network sites ] creates a larger attack and exploitation window , exposes unnecessary information to adversaries and provides an easy conduit for information leakage that puts OPSEC [ operational security ] , COMSEC [ communications security ] , [ and ] personnel ... at an elevated risk of compromise . '' The Marines ' ban will last a year . It was drawn up in response to a late July warning from U.S. Strategic Command , which told the rest of the military it was considering a Defense Department-wide ban on the Web 2.0 sites , due to network security concerns . Scams , worms , and Trojans often spread unchecked throughout social media sites , passed along from one online friend to the next . `` The mechanisms for social networking were never designed for security and filtering . They make it way too easy for people with bad intentions to push malicious code to unsuspecting users , '' a Stratcom source told Wired.com . Yet many within the Pentagon 's highest ranks find value in the Web 2.0 tools . The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff has 4,000 followers on Twitter . The Department of Defense is getting ready to unveil a new home page , packed with social media tools . The Army recently ordered all U.S. bases to provide access to Facebook . Top generals now blog from the battlefield . `` OPSEC is paramount . We will have procedures in place to deal with that , '' Price Floyd , the Pentagon 's newly-appointed social media czar , said . `` What we ca n't do is let security concerns trump doing business . We have to do business ... We need to be everywhere men and women in uniform are and the public is . If that 's MySpace and YouTube , that 's where we need to be , too , '' Floyd said . The Marines say they will issue waivers to the Web 2.0 blockade , if a `` mission critical need '' can be proven . And they will continue to allow access to the military 's internal `` SNS-like services . '' But for most members of the Corps , access to the real , public social networks is now shut off for the next year . Subscribe to WIRED magazine for less than $ 1 an issue and get a FREE GIFT ! Click here ! Copyright 2009 Wired.com .
U.S. Twitter , Facebook , MySpace bans Twitter , Facebook , MySpace and other social media sites . Order , issued last a year , states that information on the sites poses a security risk . The Marine Corps ' ban is effective immediately and will Monday . U.S. Army recently ordered all U.S. bases to provide access to Facebook .