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I think for the water companies in England and Wales, they should really consider carrying out these additional checks that we see happening in other countries, or in other parts of the United Kingdom because it's clear that the system is being abused and allowing criminals to set up accounts, steal people's identity, and the water companies almost appear to be complicit in that with the lack of checks that they're doing."

Mr MacColl believes that in the UK, there is probably enough spare capacity in the grid to deal with a cyber incident. More concerningly, Mr MacColl thinks the UK has had "quite a laissez-faire approach to cyber security over the past 15 years", with the issue given little priority by successive governments. He believes that this year's major attacks may be the "cumulative effect of a kind of inaction on cyber security, both from the government and from businesses, and it's sort of really starting to bite now".

Most facets of modern life are controlled in some way or another by a digital system,” says Jamie MacColl, a senior research fellow at Royal United Services Institute (Rusi), a defence think-tank. “For every victim there will [probably] be a physical effect . . . it could be as simple as being locked out of the office or as complex as a downed manufacturing line.”