Armenian IT expert calls for raising population’s internet literacy

An Armenian IT security expert says internet literacy appears to be a major problem in terms of sharing sensitive information on social networking sites.

At a news conference on Wednesday, Samvel Martirosyan stressed the importance of raising the internet users’ literacy level to educate them on the consequences of sharing information containing a state secret.

“The question here is whether it isn’t important for those knowing the secrets to receive a proper training. Social networks are now better tools than public opinion surveys, with over half a million Armenians being active on Facebook every day. Half of Armenia’s population is represented on the social networks, bearing open information,” he said.


The expert noted that the Russian Odnoklassniki is of special concern, with users leaving posts not being often the ones who they appear to be. He said it would be important to keep the personal profiles and passwords of Defense Ministry employees under superiors’ control to avoid risks.

Tigran Kocharyan, a blogger also attending the news conference, said the situation in the social networking site used to be even worse. He remembered that they had once found a group of spies at the Vazgen Sargsyan military academy.

“Many are not educated at all. It is important to inform them - in the final years of school - of the hazards open information may pose,” he said.

As for officials’ activeness in the social networks, Kocharyan admitted that there are real problems here too. “Any kind of information can be used, including the ‘likes’ of an official,” he said, stressing the importance of giving more attention to the problem.