GCHQ is urging internet providers to change long-standing protocols to stop computers from being used to set off large-scale cyber attacks.

The Government’s cyber-defence arm said it plans to work with networks such as BT and Virgin Media to rewrite internet standards to restrict “spoofing” - a technique that allows hackers to impersonate other computers and manipulate them to carry out anonymous attacks.

“Distributed denial of service” (DDoS) attacks, which employ this method, have been used in numerous high-profile incidents in the past fortnight, including an unprecedented hack that brought down Netflix, eBay and hundreds more popular websites.