ISIS's social media use examined at Halifax International Security Forum

Combatting the use of social media as a communication, recruiting and fundraising tool in the war against the Islamic State of Iraq and Syriais a hot topic at this weekend'sHalifax International Security Forum.

"If you look at the investments Daesh[ISIS]has made in social media, videography, it would compete frankly with the best of us and we haven't really fully grasped that, nor thought of a strategy that we need to deal with that," said Janice Stein, a professor in the Munk School of Global Affairs at the University of Toronto.

The conferenceusually covers a range of international conflicts, but this year, the topics are more focused in light of the attacks just over a week ago in Paris that killed 129 people.

In response to the attacks, the hacking groupAnonymoussays it took down more than 20,000 ISIS-linked Twitter accounts in recent days.

After the Twitter takedown, ISIS, which has been calledother names such as Daesh,called the hacking group "idiots"andvowed to create new accounts by using an encryptedTwitter account.

Military experts say social media needto be a bigger part of the effort to defeat militant groups.