Government’s spies start building national firewall to protect British internet users from hostile websites

GCHQ’s director-general for cybersecurity, Ciaran Martin said yesterday: ‘We’re exploring a flagship project on scaling up DNS filtering. What better way of providing automated defences at scale than by the major private providers effectively blocking their customers from coming into contact with known malware and bad addresses?’

Mr Martin will head up The National Cyber Security Centre, which opens next month, and he revealed that the ambitious new scheme is already being trialled, reported The Times.

Hackers have been prevented from spoofing sites with the government domain name, it was revealed.

Malware that is inadvertently installed from trusted websites is one of the most prevalent cyber attacks.

Earlier this year Ministers urged greater protection against cyber crime, after a survey found two-thirds of large businesses suffered an attack or security breach in the past year.

People who are worried about their civil liberties will be allowed to opt out of the firewall, Mr Martin revealed.