In a shocking turn of events, War Thunder players have once again leaked classified military documents onto the game’s forum. This isn’t the first time this has happened, and it’s raising serious questions about the security of these documents and the responsibility of players to keep them confidential.
It seems there is real passion fueling the players behind Gajin Entertainment’s massively multiplayer online title, War Thunder, as its players commonly get into heated discussions on the forum site. This is when some of the players upload actual military documents to argue vehicle realness, and according to reports, this has happened twice this month.
The first was reported on December 11 by CyberDaily and features real-life documents describing the Chinese VT-4 tank. Shortly after the post went live on the forum, not only was the post deleted, but the entire forum thread was also. The original post (although it was deleted) can be found on the Gajin Entertainment support site, through a ticket. While these documents weren’t considered ‘classified’ the War Thunder forums took the post down anyway.
Task and Purpose report the second military document leak on December 12. The documents were allegedly posted in the “Machinery of War” discussion section on the War Thunder forum and featured pages from “the technical manual for the M2A2 Bradley Armoured Infantry Fighting Vehicle (AIFV)”. Head of Gaijin Entertainment Anton Yudintsev said, “While we did our part in helping to limit the leak spreading further by deleting that post, we can do nothing with what’s happening on other platforms.”
The War Thunder forums have had this occur even before these two in December, and last September, after the usage of an official AH-64D Apache Longbow attack helicopter manual appeared on the forum, an admin noted why the material isn’t allowed on the War Thunder forum although the manual is publicly available.
Admin Smin1080p notes the manual was intended for use by certain parties, saying, “Export restriction still applies, meaning it should not be shared or used without legal permission,” Citing the War Thunder restriction guidelines. So, although the information is public, permission is still required for fair use on the forum.
While it may seem like a silly concept to see secrets leaked to players of War Thunder, these leaks are significant for several reasons. They could put the lives of soldiers at risk, as the leaked documents often contain sensitive information about military equipment, tactics, and operations that could be used by enemy forces to target soldiers or to develop countermeasures against their weapons and strategies. They could also damage the reputation of the military, showing that it is not doing enough to protect its secrets and making it more difficult to recruit new members and maintain public support.
If that were not enough, these leaks could make it more difficult for the military to operate effectively, as they could hinder the planning and execution of operations and complicate cooperation with other countries. In short, these leaks are a serious threat to national security. We’ll be following this story closely and will keep you updated on any new developments. In the meantime, we urge all War Thunder players to be responsible and to refrain from sharing any classified military documents on the game’s forum.
