海角大神

While Defense Department officials听said that the US began听dropping "cyberbombs" on Islamic State last month, the online threat posed by the terrorists deserves an even more profound response: a global, coordinated assault on their entire digital apparatus.听

The US and its allies have been reluctant to talk publicly听about offensive operations in cyberspace, but now is the time to put the West's collective technical superiority to work in an all-out cyberwar against the听Islamic State.

That effort shouldn't just be听limited to targeting the outfit's central command. It should include identifying and exposing the transnational network of pro-IS hacking groups, their leaders, their alliances, and how they are working in concert with Islamic State leadership.听

This kind of effort would have to include hacking their听computers and smartphones, implanting viruses and malware to pull out intelligence data on the organization, disrupting their ability to communicate with one another, and for those who are outside of Iraq and Syria, unmasking their profiles and publicizing their identities.

That may seem like an outsized response to the emerging threat. But if the US and its allies don't act now,听the Islamic State could quickly beef up its hacking chops and become impossible to uproot from the open Internet.

It's well known that the terrorists and their allies use social media to听distribute propaganda, recruit fighters, and plan attacks, but recent evidence indicates they are also upping their game to听carry out disruptive activities against the computer systems and networks of national governments, security agencies, and businesses.听

Adm. Michael Rogers, director of the National Security Agency and the head of US Cyber Command,听recently warned听Congress about the jihadist group鈥檚 intentions to conduct cyberattacks against the country. He听said听that in 2014听militants affiliated听with IS had already attempted to do damage through hacking attacks, publishing the personal details of 100 American military servicemen and calling for their assassination.

Whether this is was a data breach or a data dump of carefully compiled open-source information, new evidence supports the validity of Admiral听Rogers' claims. Hundreds of Islamic State supporters听use the Telegram messenger app听to share hacking instructions and guidelines. It appears to be working.

In March, the Caliphate Cyber Army, the terrorists' supposed main hacking unit, publicized听the home addresses of police officers in听Minnesota听and听New Jersey. A month later, the group's supporters听made public the personal information of 43 US government employees听linked to the听State Department and other agencies and a couple of days after they published the听names and addresses of听3,600 New Yorkers. In all these cases, they call for supporters to carry out "lone wolf" attacks against those they have put on their "kill lists."

The US, however, is not the only target. In April 2015, Islamic State supporters took over the French public service television network TV5Monde. In the fall of last year, malicious hackers associated with IS intercepted e-mails from听senior British ministers. 听 听 听听

Although there has not been a successful cyberattack linked to physical damage or death, the threat is fast evolving.听

"They want to keep moving towards greater destructive attacks or cyberenabled attacks that cause loss of life," Sean Newell, deputy听chief for Cyber, Counterintelligence, and Export Control Section at the US Justice Department,听said at an event听hosted by the Atlantic Council, a Washington think tank.

In response to the growing menace, Defense Secretary Ashton Carter听confirmed听the US military is engaging in cyberwarfare against the group to interrupt their command and control abilities, their abilities to plan attacks, their finances, and their propaganda machine.听The offensive actions include the听deployment听of a tactical aircraft that can jam any radar and communication devices from Islamic State held territory.听

Other governments have joined the effort. The British Government听announced听last November an investment of nearly 2 billion pounds to create the country鈥檚 first 鈥渃yberforce鈥� to combat online threats from听states听and terrorist groups. Similarly,听earlier this year the French government declared its听plan to hire 500 cybersecurity experts听to help in the fight against terrorism.

But the fact is that democracies in the West are playing catch up while Islamic State has enjoyed the freedom to advance its cybercapacities. The international community should not wait until those capabilities are fully developed. It's time to escalate the digital offensive now.听

Kyle Matthews is the founder of the Digital Mass Atrocity Prevention Lab at Concordia University. Chantalle Gonzalez is a communications and research officer at the lab.