WASHINGTON, Feb. 29 (Xinhua) -- The Pentagon announced on Monday it was waging cyber attacks against the extremist group the Islamic State(IS) apart from airstrikes and occasional ground missions.

"We're also using cyber tools to disrupt ISIL's ability to operate and communicate over the virtual battlefield," said U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter here at a Pentagon briefing, referring to another acronym of the group.

According to Carter, the aims of using cyber attacks included disrupting IS's command and control, causing them to lose confidence in their network and overloading their network to such extent that it no longer functions.

"We're accelerating this (cyber attacks), just as we're accelerating everything else we're doing both in Syria and Iraq, whether it be the air war, the ground war, the cyber war we're looking to accelerate as well," said Carter, adding that some methods "will be surprising."

However, to maximize the effect of cyber wars against the IS, Carter declined to delve into specifics, but called the cyber attacks "a very effective tool."

"As we disrupt the ISIL communications via cyber or other methods, sometimes we do drive them to other means," said Carter. "Sometimes, those means are easier for us to listen to."