Senior security sources in the British government told the Sunday Times they had been ordered to boost cyberattack capabilities to be able to "turn out the lights" in the Kremlin.
The UK government reportedly fears it has a gap in defenses which could leave it with too few options of responding to an attack by Russia, other than a nuclear strike.
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The paper said London wanted to have means of hitting back at Moscow if it tried to seize small Baltic Sea islands or invade Libya to take over its oil reserves and trigger a new migrant crisis in Europe.
The United Kingdom has repeatedly accused Russia of cybercrimes, including a recent alleged attempt by its spies to hack the international chemical weapons watchdog in the Hague. Russia responded by accusing the West of rampant spy mania.