UK should wage 'war' on cyber enemies, say lawmakers

London, July 17 (ANI): British lawmakers have said the country should declare a cyber war against criminals and states that target their nation.

The Intelligence and Security Committee (ISC), in its annual report, pointed out that it was not enough to just defend against cyber attacks.

It said the military and spy agencies needed to exploit cyber warfare for their own ends.

Britain's security and intelligence agencies should be willing to engage in covert cyber attacks on enemy states using programs such as the Stuxnet virus that targeted Iran's nuclear ambitions, the report concludes.

According to The Telegraph, British lawmakers have stressed that slow progress was leaving the country even more vulnerable to its enemies.

The ISC's report said defending against cyber attacks must be a priority for the country, but "there are also opportunities for our intelligence and security agencies and military which should be exploited in the interests of UK national security".

It said those include the "active defence" of interfering with the systems of people trying to hack into British networks.

According to the paper, the report also raised concerns that "much of the work to protect UK interests in cyberspace is still at an early stage".

"Twenty months into the National Cyber Security Programme, there appears to have been some progress on developing cyber capabilities," it said. (ANI)