Smart cities are vulnerable to cyber attacks aimed at weaknesses in their connected digital infrastructure, the UK's National Cyber Security Centre said.
Global metropolises use a range of connected devices and sensors that manage integrated systems, such as traffic light and CCTV networks.
Councils need to be better prepared to protect these systems from hackers who have the potential to disrupt critical networks, the NCSC said.
Such a scenario is reminiscent of a scene in the classic British film The Italian Job, said NCSC technical director Dr Ian Levy, and would be catastrophic for people who live and work in affected cities.
“One of the first Hollywood depictions of a cyber attack was against critical infrastructure,” he wrote in a blog.
"It was an attack against a city's centralised traffic management system in the 1969 film The Italian Job.
“As part of an elaborate heist, a dodgy computer professor [played by Benny Hill] switches magnetic storage tapes for the Turin traffic control to create a gridlock. Chaos ensues and the thieves escape with the gold.
"A similar 'gridlock' attack on a 21st-century city would have catastrophic impacts on the people who live and work there, and criminals wouldn't need physical access to the traffic control system to do it."
A similar 'gridlock' attack on a 21st-century city would have catastrophic impacts
In response to the threat, the NCSC issued new guidance for councils and local authorities to help secure connected places and their underlying infrastructure.
The principles offer advice on designing and managing smart city networks to prevent mass data loss or rogue actors gaining access for spying or other purposes.
“Local authorities are using sensors and intelligent systems to improve our lives and make our cities more efficient and environmentally friendly,” Dr Levy said.
"These connected physical environments are just emerging in the UK, so now is the time to make sure we’re designing and building them properly."
Tearful appearance
Chancellor Rachel Reeves set markets on edge as she appeared visibly distraught in parliament on Wednesday.
Legislative setbacks for the government have blown a new hole in the budgetary calculations at a time when the deficit is stubbornly large and the economy is struggling to grow.
She appeared with Keir Starmer on Thursday and the pair embraced, but he had failed to give her his backing as she cried a day earlier.
A spokesman said her upset demeanour was due to a personal matter.
Sole survivors
- Cecelia Crocker was on board Northwest Airlines Flight 255 in 1987 when it crashed in Detroit, killing 154 people, including her parents and brother. The plane had hit a light pole on take off
- George Lamson Jr, from Minnesota, was on a Galaxy Airlines flight that crashed in Reno in 1985, killing 68 people. His entire seat was launched out of the plane
- Bahia Bakari, then 12, survived when a Yemenia Airways flight crashed near the Comoros in 2009, killing 152. She was found clinging to wreckage after floating in the ocean for 13 hours.
- Jim Polehinke was the co-pilot and sole survivor of a 2006 Comair flight that crashed in Lexington, Kentucky, killing 49.
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19 grand slam singles titles
Wimbledon: 5 (2011, 14, 15, 18, 19)
French Open: 2 (2016, 21)
US Open: 3 (2011, 15, 18)
Australian Open: 9 (2008, 11, 12, 13, 15, 16, 19, 20, 21)
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20 grand slam singles titles
Wimbledon: 8 (2003, 04, 05, 06, 07, 09, 12, 17)
French Open: 1 (2009)
US Open: 5 (2004, 05, 06, 07, 08)
Australian Open: 6 (2004, 06, 07, 10, 17, 18)
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RAFAEL NADAL
20 grand slam singles titles
Wimbledon: 2 (2008, 10)
French Open: 13 (2005, 06, 07, 08, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 17, 18, 19, 20)
US Open: 4 (2010, 13, 17, 19)
Australian Open: 1 (2009)
Prize money: $125m
