US Cyberwar Against ISIS Begins
US defence secretary, Ashton Carter, said he has issued orders to the US Cyber Command to launch online attacks against the terrorist group.
Speaking to the FT, he said: "I have given Cyber Command really its first wartime assignment...and we're seeing how that works out."
Carter told reporters in February that the Cyber Command, which was formed in 2009, was "looking to accelerate" its digital attacks against Isis, in an effort to disrupt their communications systems, data security and financial structures. Now, it appears the cyber war is being stepped up.
The US has only vaguely alluded to its cyber warfare operations in the past, but Carter's comments are some of the most explicit confirmations so far that the US is deploying digital attacks against its enemies.
"I have given Cyber Command its first wartime assignment", said Ashton Carter, US Secretary of Defence.
Lifting the veil of secrecy which covers the Cyber Command, headquartered at Fort Meade in Maryland, has been seen as an attempt by the Department of Defence to deter foreign countries from hitting the US with cyberattacks.
Thousands of people have been recruited to the Cyber Command in the last few years, mirroring the expansion of the UK's own digital defence force.
Isis's use of the internet to communicate, recruit and spread propaganda is well-known, so an increase in cyber attacks is seen as an essential part of the wider military campaign against the group by the US's top officials.
Isis plotting cyber warfare in the UK
And the UK Government is to invest nearly £2bn to create the country’s first “cyber force” to combat online threats from states and terror groups, the Chancellor George Osborne will announced recently.
The new National Cyber Centre will be based at GCHQ, and the money – to be spent over next five years – is expected to create hundreds of new jobs dedicated to tackling cyber attacks against the UK. While the majority of the work will be directed at state-sponsored online attacks, Mr Osborne will warn that groups like Isis are also developing increasingly sophisticated cyber capabilities.
The Prime Minister delivered a bleak warning of the scale of the terrorist threat as he revealed that the security services had prevented seven attacks in the past year of 2015.
Mr Cameron warned that an atrocity “could happen here” and said the Paris atrocities meant “you have to go right back to the drawing board”. He suggested he was sympathetic to accelerating the introduction of new powers for the security services to monitor emails and website visits.
Ein News: http://bit.ly/1WcniQA
