London, Dec 26 : Two in three people believe Britain should draw `first blood' in the cyber war and attack state or hackers before they target their country.

The majority of the public believe pre-emptive strikes are justified if enemy states or hi-tech criminals pose a threat to national security.

Earlier this year, a committee of MPs and peers said Britain should declare cyber war on those who target the country through aggressive retaliatory strikes to destroy their operations, the Telegraph reports.

Hackers and foreign spies are bombarding government departments and businesses, which has become one of the `greatest challenges' of modern times.

A survey for cyber security company LogRhythm found that 65 percent of the public backed pre-emptive strikes on enemy states that pose a credible threat to national security.

According to the report, some 45 percent said the government needs to step up its protection of national assets and information against cyber threats while a similar proportion said the threat needed to be taken very seriously now.

Only 18 percent considered pre-emptive attacks on enemy states to be unjustified, the poll found.

In June, Jonathan Evans, the head of MI5, said there was an `astonishing' level of cyber attacks from enemy states and criminals, which were threatening government secrets and businesses, the report said.

He revealed that one attack cost a London business 800 million pounds, it added. (ANI)