Geneva -- The next world war could take place in cyberspace, the UN telecommunications agency chief warned Tuesday as experts called for action to stamp out cyber attacks.

"The next world war could happen in cyberspace and that would be a catastrophe. We have to make sure that all countries understand that in that war, there is no such thing as a superpower," Hamadoun Toure said.

"Loss of vital networks would quickly cripple any nation, and none is immune to cyber attack," added the Secretary-General of the International Telecommunications Union during the ITU's Telecom World 2009 fair in Geneva.

Toure said countries have become "critically dependent" on technology for commerce, finance, health care, emergency services and food distribution.

"The best way to win a war is to avoid it in the first place," he stressed.

As the internet becomes more linked with daily lives, cyber attacks and crimes have also increased in frequency, experts said.

Such attacks include the use of "phishing" tools to access passwords to commit fraud, or attempts by hackers to bring down secure networks.

Individual countries have started to respond by bolstering their defences.

US Secretary for Homeland Security Janet Napolitano said Thursday that she received permission to hire up to 1,000 cybersecurity experts to increase the United States' defences against cyber threats.