They say you should change your passwords often. England’s Ministry of Defense is learning that the hard way this week after releasing a publicity photo of Prince William that accidently included secret passwords.
Photos of Prince William, or Flight Lieutenant Wales as he’s known in the military, were released on the new official website of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge. The photos were meant to show how the famous prince is serving his country as a helicopter pilot, but it showed much more than that. In the background of one of the images, a computer screen displayed important and secret usernames and passwords.
The images were released online and to the media before anyone in the government realized the mistake, according to The Guardian. Soon after, the images were taken down and replaced with ones that had the computer screens pixilated.
“Passwords and user names shown have now been reset as a precaution and we are satisfied the images do not contravene security regulations,” a military spokesperson told The Guardian.
It’s obvious that the folks at the Ministry of Defense could learn a thing or two from the Obama White House when it comes to censoring images. In 2011, the White House released a series of images on Flickr from inside the Situation Room during the raid on Osama Bin Laden. In one of the most iconic images sensitive pieces of paperwork were censored.
In other words, think before you post.
Photo via the British Monarchy/Flickr