Why the U.S. is struggling with their digital war on ISIS

The U.S. military’s reported inability to effectively “drop cyber bombs” on the Islamic State is raising new questions about the military’s existing “cyber weapons arsenal,” a loosely defined collage of digital warfare capabilities shrouded in secrecy. Computer network attacks have been conducted by operators within the National Security Agency and U.S. Cyber Command, the military’s top cyber warfare unit, under the order of Joint Task Force Ares. While the two organizations are inherently aligned, the NSA and Cyber Command follow different missions and employ different capabilities. Very little is publicly known about either the intelligence community or U.S. military’s ability to conduct offensive cyber operations; the subject matter is generally considered classified if not highly sensitive. A leaked CIA document published by WikiLeaks in March and identified by CyberScoop provides a rare window into how analysts conduct cyber warfare operations; describing one instance in which an operator worked to remotely disrupt a […]

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U.S. cyber warriors are getting better at fighting ISIS online, says top general

The U.S. military has gotten better at countering ISIS’ digital operations over the last six months, according to Lieutenant General Paul Nakasone, commanding general of Army Cyber Command. “I think what we are learning is in terms of being able to counter a message, being able to attack a brand — in this case the brand of ISIS — and then, the other thing is, how do we do this with the speed and accuracy that is able to get at an adversary that six months ago was moving uncontested in cyberspace,” Nakasone said during a Senate Armed Services subcommittee hearing. “I think we’ve learned those things over the last six months. I think we as a department have done much better.” ISIS shares propaganda, communicates with allies and spreads other messaging via the internet. In the past, the group’s successful use of social media has been linked to terrorist […]

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