Defense Secretary Ashton Carter has said the U.S. Cyber Command has launched a cyber military campaign in an effort to disrupt the Islamic State militant organization’s communications systems and command-and-control platforms, the Wall Street Journal reported Monday.
Damian Paletta and Felicia Schwartz write Carter and Gen. Joseph Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, briefed reporters Monday about the Defense Department’s cyber attacks against the group.
Carter said the U.S.-led cyber attacks launched in Syria aim “to interrupt ISIL’s command and control, to cause them to lose confidence in their networks [and] to overload their networks so that they can’t function.”
Lolita Baldor reports for the Associated Press the defense chief also noted that the cyber attacks against the militant group’s communications systems might drive the organization to adopt older platforms.
“As we disrupt the ISIL communications via cyber or other methods, sometimes we do drive them to other means,” Carter said, according to the report.
“Sometimes, those other means are easier for us to listen to.”
