US to use cyber expertise to fight terror threat

The US is taking on Daesh in cyberspace. Though this is not the first time that the target has faced a backlash, it is the first cyber warfare declaration that has been made public.

US Secretary of Defence Ashton Carter told the press in April that he has given the first cyber war assignment to Cyber Command. The company, which was created back in 2009, monitors both offensive and defensive operations for the US Department of Defence, and will take on Daesh in Iraq and Syria.

According to Carter, this means:

“…interrupting their ability to command and control their forces, interrupting their ability to plot including against us here and anywhere else against our friends and allies around the world, interrupting their finances, their ability to dominate the population on territory they have tried to establish this nasty ideology.”

Although there is no previous offensive cyber declaration made against a known Middle Eastern enemy, the US’ aggressive role in cyber space is common knowledge.

Daesh has not, at this point, demonstrated high-end cyber capability. However, the group has shown that it can be extremely effective when using cyber space in organising and spreading propaganda, as well as in its recruitment strategy.

This is cyber warfare at its most aggressive. However, it is happening all the time in commerce, with businesses constantly being targeted by cyber criminals. SMEs don’t have a specific enemy, as hackers can come out of the woodwork from anywhere in the world. They do, however, need to shore up their own cyber defence and this usually begins with creating cyber recruitment jobs to those trained in protecting businesses from an attack.