The UK government is working on a 'tool box' of cyber weapons as well as boosting its online defences.
Understandably, the government won't reveal what kind of online arsenal makes up the cyber armoury, which is being developed by the Cabinet Office and the Cyber Security Operations Centre, with input from the Ministry of Defence.
Speaking to the Guardian, the armed forces minister, Nick Harvey, said, "Action in cyberspace will form part of the future battlefield."
Sounds like a bad '90s movie
"Cyber is a new domain but the rules and norms, the logic and the standards that operate in any other domain … translate across into cyberspace," he went on.
"I don't think that the existence of a new domain will, in itself, make us any more offensive than we are in any other domain. The legal conventions within which we operate are quite mature and well established."
With everything from transport to power to taxes to communications now taking place online, or at least digitally, the UK is more vulnerable to cyber attacks than ever before - where Die Hard 4.0 leads, life will inevitably follow.
"The consequences of a well planned, well executed attack against our digital infrastructure could be catastrophic … With nuclear or biological weapons, the technical threshold is high," Harvey continued.
"With cyber the finger hovering over the button could be anyone from a state to a student."
With the prospect of a cyber war becoming ever more likely, it makes sense for the UK to have some offensive strikes in the bag, as well as fending off external threats.
Now, where did we put those tin foil hats?
From The Guardian