Islamic State’s cyberwar abilities limited
Group can’t carry out massive disruptions, heists, official says
As successful as the Islamic State has been at using social media to draw recruits, the terror group has not demonstrated the cyberwar capacity to conduct massive data heists or knock out critical energy and financial systems, a top national security official said Wednesday.
“I don’t think they have the capability right now, or we would see the attack,” Assistant Attorney General John Carlin said in a meeting with the USA TODAY Editorial Board.
Carlin, who oversees the Justice Department’s National Security Division, said the threat by the Islamic State is increasingly focused on encouraging potential sympathizers through a barrage of electronic overtures to lash out in ways similar to an alleged plot interrupted last week against Boston police officers.
FBI and Boston police shot and killed terrorism suspect Usaamah Rahim, who had allegedly expressed a desire to launch knife attacks against police officers.
The plan, allegedly inspired by the Islamic State, also known as ISIL or ISIS, was chosen after Rahim abandoned discussion about beheading Pamela Geller, the organizer of a contest last month to draw the prophet Mohammed in Garland, Texas.
Carlin said that in the past 18 months, federal investigators have encountered more suspects weighing attack plans, apart from cases involving Islamic State recruits seeking to join the terror group abroad.
FBI Director James Comey said last month that perhaps thousands across the USA have received recruitment pitches from the Islamic State on a variety of social media platforms.
Though the Islamic State’s social media campaign has been unrelenting, Carlin said, it lacks the broader cyber capability wielded by nation states, though not for lack of desire. Carlin said the Islamic State and al- Qaeda’s franchise in the Arabian Peninsula are “actively attempting to acquire the capability” to carry out more serious types of attacks, beyond website defacements.
“I don’t think they have the capability right now, or we would see the attack.”
Assistant Attorney General John Carlin