Pentagon hits ISIS with ‘cyber bombs’ in full-scale online campaign...

The Hill
April 25, 2016

The Pentagon is launching its first full-scale cyber offensive against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS), The New York Times reported.

The campaign includes efforts to imitate prominent ISIS commanders online and mislead militants, as well as to interrupt and redirect electronic transfers of money used to fund the group’s extremist agenda. To conduct the offensive, the Pentagon has created a cadre of “national mission teams” that resemble Special Operations forces.

The military is hoping to spread concern among ISIS members that U.S. cyberattacks are manipulating their data and eavesdropping on communications with potential recruits.

“We are dropping cyber bombs,” Robert Work, deputy secretary of Defense, told The Times. “We have never done that before.”

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