Tim Marshall, skynewsFomer computer hackers are being recruited for a British cyberspace army, as the UK seeks to defend itself from the growing risk of web terrorism and espionage.
The Chinese government made serious attempts to break into the Foreign Office system in 2007 - and the Government believes future cyber attacks are likely and could be deadly.
In response, it has anounced the creation of a national cyber security centre with a cyber security chief to be based at the intelligence-gathering hub of the Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) in Cheltenham.
Lord West, who chairs Britain's National Security Forum, told Sky News: "Terrorists' ability in cyber warfare will grow, there is an intent from al Qaeda and others.
"We are working very closely with the US on combating this.
"It would be silly to say we don't have any offensive capacity," he revealed, adding that some ex-hackers would be employed to create a force against cyber attackers.
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