The Pentagon is looking for a new weapon that would help fight war in cyberspace, and it has commissioned military contractors to develop a highly classified Internet of the future, the New York Times reported on Tuesday.

Military experts believe a new international race to develop cyber weapons and systems to protect against these kinds of attacks has already started, according to the newspaper. And the goal is to develop better defenses against a new generation of online weapons. The Obama administration is moving in this direction in the wake of thousands of daily attacks on federal and private computer systems in the United States. Many of these attacks have come from China and Russia, and have been successful in breaking through American firewalls.

"We have seen Chinese network operations inside certain of our electricity grids," said Joel F. Brenner, who oversees counterintelligence operations for Dennis Blair, the national intelligence director, speaking at the University of Texas at Austin this month. "Do I worry about those grids, and about air traffic control systems, water supply systems, and so on? You bet I do."

Melissa Hathaway, Obama's White House cybersecurity advisory, has talked about bold attacks on computer networks. She has delivered a 60-day evaluation of the government's current cyber security efforts, and it is likely that Obama will develop new initiatives to respond to her report.

It remains an open question whether the government will go public with any initiatives to protect U.S. networks from cyberattacks. But it appears critical that the time has come to throw up defenses.

For more on cybersecurity weapons:
- check out this New York Times article