Posted March 27, 2019 01:27:29

Photo: The Australian Signals Directorate is declassifying details of how its cyber spies destroyed IS communications. (AAP: Lukas Coch)

With the so-called Islamic State (IS) group on the brink of collapse, new details are emerging of how Australian operatives working from the other side of the globe helped to defeat the terrorists.

In a rare public address, the head of the secretive Australian Signals Directorate (ASD) will today declassify details of operations where cyber spies worked remotely with the Department of Defence to destroy IS communications in the Middle East.

"Just as the coalition forces were preparing to attack the terrorists' position, our offensive cyber operators were at their keyboards in Australia — firing highly targeted bits and bytes into cyberspace," ASD director Mike Burgess will reveal in a speech on Wednesday, the details of which have been obtained by the ABC.

"Daesh [Islamic State] communications were degraded within seconds — terrorist commanders couldn't connect to the internet and were unable to communicate with each other."

In another previously secret operation, the ASD worked with coalition partners to damage the IS media machine.

"We locked the terrorists out of their servers and destroyed propaganda material, undermining Daesh's ability to spread hate and recruit new members," Mr Burgess will tell the Lowy Institute.

"In these operations, cyber operators at computers in Canberra helped fight and defeat terrorists on the other side of the world."

Photo: An Egyptian IS fighter in Syria after surrendering in early March. (ABC News: Suzanne Dredge)

The ASD director will also reveal how an employee impersonated a terrorist online to convince a wannabe overseas Australian jihadist to move to another location where he could be captured.

When ASD was first alerted to the situation, a specialist team of linguistic, cultural and behavioural experts was quickly formed and a sophisticated plan was hatched.

"The risks were significant and the stakes were high. If the terrorists didn't accept the newcomer, they would likely execute him," Mr Burgess will say.

"If the terrorists did accept him, he would be further radicalised and trained to kill. It was literally a life-and-death scenario."

Young Aussies who 'can keep a secret' urged to join ASD

The head of the team was a "highly trained young woman" who used "a series of online conversations to gradually win her target's trust".

In his public speech, Mr Burgess will also issue a plea for more ASD recruits, to fill roles such as linguists, software developers, analysts, code breakers and behavioural experts.

Using satellite imagery, reporting from the ground and content posted to social media, we've pieced together the dying days of Islamic State territorial control in Syria.

Mr Burgess will say, despite public perceptions, the organisation's most experienced covert online operators were women, and employees can come to the office dressed casually.

"Some of our people wear sharp suits to work … and quite a few wear the hoodies and jeans that you might expect to see in a tech start-up rather than the public service," he will say.

"If you would like a licence to hack legally, can keep a secret and want to make a difference, then ASD might have a job for you."

Topics: unrest-conflict-and-war, terrorism, science-and-technology, computers-and-technology, hacking, australia