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US Begins Dropping 'Cyberbombs' On ISIS (nytimes.com)
In what appears to be a significant shift in its tactic to battle against the terrorist organization, the U.S. has begun launching cyberattacks against ISIS (non-paywall link). The New York Times reports that the Department of Defense's Cyber Command unit is mounting cyberattacks against the terrorist organization. The Cyber Command unit aims to stop the organization from spreading its message. The Times reports: The goal of the new campaign is to disrupt the ability of the Islamic State to spread its message, attract new adherents, circulate orders from commanders and carry out day-to-day functions, like paying its fighters. A benefit of the administration's exceedingly rare public discussion of the campaign, officials said, is to rattle the Islamic State's commanders, who have begun to realize that sophisticated hacking efforts are manipulating their data. Potential recruits may also be deterred if they come to worry about the security of their communications with the militant group. "We are dropping cyberbombs," Robert O. Work, deputy secretary of defense said. "We have never done that before."
From The New York Times:
Yeah. Right.
Wait, it gets better:
And by "loosely" they mean "are people" and "paid by the government".
Remember, replace all the "cyber" with "Facebook" and you'll get a better idea of what they're really doing.
> Get real, this is bullshit. Anybody who has or uses an AK47 is not someone who stores meaningful data on a computer.
The armed forces of about 60 countries have and use the AK-47.
ISIL has about a billion dollars. They acquired $429 million when they took over the Mosul branch of the Central Bank of Iraq, and they now run retail bank branches in the territory the occupy. They "govern" a population of about 4 million, roughly half the size of Switzerland or Israel, and a bit larger than Barcelona or Houston.
ISIL has captured Syrian MiG-23 fighter jets, and demonstrated the use of Mohajer 4 drones captured from Syria and Iran. They have the M1A1M Abrams tank captured from the Iraqi army.
ISIL is a quasi-government, with not only a significant military administered by computers, but civil infrastructure as well - a tax system, payroll for 200,000 employees, etc. If you thought ISIL was a few guys riding around on camels, that's not quite true.
Here's a clue: The first amendment applies to americans living in America. Not american and not in America? Not covered.
Bzzzt, wrong! The 1st Amendment recognizes a natural, pre-existing right to freedom of speech (among other things) possessed by all human beings. It prohibits Congress from passing any law which would infringe on the freedom of speech—anyone's freedom of speech, not just the freedom of speech of Americans or of people living in America. Directing or authorizing (or funding) any branch of government to infringe on anyone's freedom of speech would constitute passing just such a law.
"The state is that great fiction by which everyone tries to live at the expense of everyone else." - Bastiat
Try deleting the NYT cookies, you should get through. Works for me.
Or just stop reading the NYT altogether to show paywalls are not acceptable.
Like Stuxnet, any attack that the government launches has the potential to affect computers that are not owned by ISIS terrorists (or in Stuxnet's case, Iranian centrifuges).
The more success that Cyber Command has, the more comfortable they will be with with launching cyber bombs. At some point there will be significant collateral damage.