The recent terrorist attack in Paris that killed 129 people has completely shaken world economies forcing them to re-evaluate their security and defence mechanisms. The gravity of the situation and what follows need not be put in words.

Speaking from the headquarters of GCHQ in Cheltenham, British Finance Minister George Osborne warned that Islamic state militants are trying to plot potentially deadly cyber attacks and British companies need to protect their network against these.

Osborne said that anyone who attacks UK in cyber space should know that “we can hit back” adding that Britain reserves the right to respond to a cyber attack in any way it should choose. He also said that an offensive capability to counter-attack terrorists in cyber space is being developed.

According to Osborne’s speech received by The Guardian, he emphasized that ISIS’S “murderous brutality has a strong digital element” in which they are seeking to kill through attacks on cyber infrastructure.

“ISIL [Islamic state or ISIS] are already using the internet for hideous propaganda purposes; for radicalisation, for operational planning too. They have not been able to use it to kill people yet by attacking our infrastructure through cyber attack. They do not yet have that capability. But we know they want it, and are doing their best to build it.

“So when we talk about tackling ISIL, that means tackling their cyber threat as well as the threat of their guns, bombs and knives.”

Osborne also announced the setting up of a new National Cyber Centre while adding that the government is to double investment in online security to £1.9 billion.