Carlos Solari, VP quality assurance, security and reliability Alcatel-Lucent Bell Labs, and former CIO, the White House, said: “The worrying thing here is the merging of our infrastructure. Over the last 10 years we’ve seen a gradual convergence towards IP networks, to the point where almost every technology relies on the same infrastructure.

"This of course means that the issues we currently experience in relation to data network security will soon apply to telecoms as well. The problem can’t be overstated – from mischief through to cyberwar, the situation is grave.”

The growing realisation that online attacks and espionage are valuable tools for anyone from nation states to phishers is gaining traction. Earlier this month the UK staged Operation White Noise, an exercise designed to discover what happens to public services in the event of a nationwide failure of the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN), which could be the result of a cyber attack.

Spying online is an allegation regularly levelled at China, but more prosaically PriceWaterhouseCoopers estimates that corporate espionage costs the world’s 1,000 largest companies in excess of $45 billion every year.

Solari continued: “Existing security methods, such as code reviews, don’t go nearly far enough. We need to change the way that the industry works, we need a methodology that drives a consistent, measurable approach. Maybe the concept of an ISO standard that deals exclusively with security matters is overdue?”