Damn the hash tags, full speed ahead!
Via Fox News:
The Pentagon is considering more aggressive cyberattacks on the Islamic State’s computers in an effort to decrease its propaganda on social media and prevent potential terror attacks, according to a published report.
The Los Angeles Times reported Sunday, citing unnamed U.S. officials who were not authorized to speak on the matter, that military hackers at Cyber Command in Fort Meade, Md. have created malware that could be used to curb the terror group’s capabilities on the Internet.
However, the military’s fight against the extremists’ online communications faces drawback from the FBI and other intelligence officials who say that constricting the Internet in Syria and Iraq may shut the window into the militants’ whereabouts and intentions, according to the Los Angeles Times.
The White House has directed top Pentagon officials to prepare for an increase in cyberwarfare after the investigation into the San Bernardino, Calif. terror attack showed that Sayed Farook and Tashfeen Malik had been inspired from extremist propaganda online to carry out the attack that killed 14.
An official told the Times that the U.S. wants to use cyberattacks as another option to “pressure” ISIS.
Defense Chief Ash Carter is expected to meet with officials at Cyber Command this week to go over possible digital options to take down the Islamic State’s internet capabilities.
Encryption has been a huge roadblock into what the U.S. can access when trying to decode messages from potential terror suspects. The Obama administration said last week that the competing goals of protecting Americans’ emails and other private messages and helping the U.S. intelligence community decipher them to foil terror plots are on a “collision” course.