Australian official lifts lid on cyberwarfare

SYDNEY – Australia's top cyberwarrior has revealed that his country actively participated in the electronic war against the Islamic State group in Syria, degrading their communications during military operations and actively stopping people seeking to join the extremist group.

The director-general of the government-run Australian Signals Directorate, Mike Burgess, spoke publicly for the first time Wednesday about his agency's work.

Burgess cited an example of how the cyberwarfare body helped the Australian Defense Force and its allies win a critical battle with IS.

He said the agency's cyberoperators were at their keyboards in Australia firing highly targeted bits and bytes into cyberspace just as coalition forces were preparing to attack an IS position.

He said IS communications "were degraded within seconds."