Britain's GCHQ looks at creating nationwide Internet firewall

Tightening security: Osborne said the Nov 13 attacks in Paris underscored the need to improve Britain's protections against electronic attack.

LONDON: Britain's GCHQ security agency is considering developing a nationwide Internet firewall to block malicious content and protect government networks from rocketing numbers of attacks, the incoming head of its new cyber security arm says. 

Ciaran Martin, the chief executive of the eavesdropping agency's National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC), said the measure was among a number of more ambitious, active approaches Britain was taking in the face of an upsurge in attacks.