Cyber attacks on energy supplies, nuclear power stations and defence industry double in 12 months

Major cyber attacks that could cripple Britain’s energy supplies, nuclear power stations and defence industry have doubled in a year, GCHQ has warned.

Spy chiefs said Britain’s listening post was identifying 200 ‘significant’ cyber attacks a month – around seven a day – compared with just 100 a month last year.

Criminals, terror cells and hostile foreign states are using cyber technology to target critical infrastructure in a bid to bring chaos to the UK or steal the country’s industrial and military secrets.