Cybercriminals claim they have stolen data from a water company’s IT systems.

Southern Water, which has hundreds of thousands of customers in Kent, says it has detected suspicious activity and launched an investigation led by cybersecurity experts.

But it says there is no evidence to suggest “customer relationships or financial systems” have been affected.

In a statement, the water firm said: “We are aware of a claim by cybercriminals that data has been stolen from some of our IT systems.

“We had previously detected suspicious activity and had launched an investigation, led by independent cybersecurity specialists.

“Since then, a limited amount of data has been published.

“However, at this point, there is no evidence our customer relationships or financial systems have been affected.

“Our services are not impacted and are operating normally.

“We have informed the government, our regulators and the Information Commissioner's Office; and we are closely following the advice of the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) as our investigation continues.

“If, through the investigation, we establish that customers' or employees' data has been stolen, we will ensure they are notified, in accordance with our obligations.”

Southern Water says it provides drinking water to 2.5 million customers and wastewater services to more than 4.7 million across Sussex, Kent, Hampshire and the Isle of Wight.

Last week, three Kent councils saw services disrupted amid a potential organised hacking attack.

Canterbury City Council, Thanet District Council and Dover District Council saw parts of their operations compromised in what they are calling a “cyber incident”.

It is not believed anybody’s data was compromised.