UK confirms using cyber warfare against ISIS

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The UK government has confirmed using cyber warfare in the bid to retake Mosul from Islamic State forces.

In a conference, Defence Secretary Sir Michael Fallon said the country had begun the use of cyber weapons against the terror outfit in Syria and Iraq.

“I’m not going into operational specifics, but yes, you know we are conducting military operations against Daesh [ISIS] as part of the international coalition, and I can confirm that we are using offensive cyber for the first time in this campaign,” Fallon said.

The operations are likely to include penetrating ISIS’ computer networks, preventing the group’s militants being able to communicate with each other and the outside world and inserting false messages to cause confusion.

The UK government would invest around 265 million pounds in new ways to uncover cyber vulnerabilities within the UK military platforms.

Iraqi forces had recaptured the town of Bartella, 15 kmeast of Mosul and Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said the operation to retake Mosul was progressing faster than planned.