General Sir Christopher Deverell -  the commander of Britain's Joint Forces Command - said that hacks could target air traffic control, power stations and a heap of other vulnerable points. Belisha beacons - introduced by politician Hore Belisha in the 1940s - are known in other parts of the world as pedestrian crossings.

He said that Britain needed to defend itself against such threats.

His remarks were echoed by Michael Fabian, a principal consultant at Synopsys.

Potential hackers include nation states and hobbyists, Fabian said. 

But, he added: “the actual risk versus the perceived risk is complete speculation and is about as difficult to predict as the next location lightning will strike. That said, the precedent for infrastructure disruption as a powerful means of attack has already been set globally.”

Meanwhile, another consultant –  Andrew Lloyd from Coreo Network Security, said it is entirely possible that we'll see hacking incidents during the World Cup, held in Russia, as Fudzilla reported yesterday.

He said: “We note that today’s opening ceremony is followed by a Russia vs. Saudi Arabia match that I’m sure will pique interest in Iran and elsewhere. Beyond attacking the FIFA infrastructure, other risk areas with a higher commercial impact include live broadcast streams and highly lucrative in-game betting.”

We await the result of today's match between Saudi Arabia and Russia with some interest, although unfortunately we'll be too busy to watch this – and the other World Cup matches – particularly as Scotland isn't playing.

[Picture of Belisha beacon in Hong Kong courtesy of Wikipedia]