U.S. Starts Cyber War with ISIS

Secretary of Defense Ash Carter has confirmed it is attacking computers used by the Islamic State in an effort to wreck its communications systems.

Carter told reporters it is hacking ISIS or Daesh or ISIL in Iraq and Syria, and considers those attacks akin to normal warfare.

Secretary Carter said: "We're bombing ISIL's banks as well as oil wells they've taken over or coerced others into operating on their behalf. We're also using cyber tools to disrupt ISIL's ability to operate and communicate over the virtual battlefield."

"It is beyond [jamming radio communications]. We do that, too. The two enable one another and complement each other, that is electronic warfare delivering through radio frequency means effects of the same kind and cyber. Electronic warfare has been [around] as long as radio has, and obviously, cyber is something new."

Carter put it bluntly that the U.S. plans to "whack away" and "put an end" to the ISIS threat "fast".

Daesh sympathizers have boasted that they have launched attacks against Western media and organizations, claiming credit for these distributed denial of service attacks. New York-based intelligence firm Flashpoint says that they do not yet have that ability.

Source: The Register