In the UK, the population was recommended to keep a 3-day emergency supply at home
The British government has recommended that the population keep a 3-day emergency supply of water and food at home. According to officials, the necessity of such a precautionary measure was demonstrated by a major global outage in the IT system, as well as natural disasters observed during the summer.
UK public advised to keep a 3-day emergency supply at home
On October 23, the UK government advised the public to keep a 3-day emergency supply at home. The Government stated that this need was once again clearly demonstrated by the PHP software outage that occurred this week, as well as a summer season marked by record heat, drought, and wildfires.
After flaws in the system were exposed on Wednesday, governments and business entities around the world rushed to secure systems running on the PHP programming language. This situation led to the suspension of some services and millions of hacker attacks, becoming one of the largest cybersecurity incidents in recent years.
The British government stated that such internet outages demonstrated the importance of the recently launched "Be Ready" campaign, which recommends that the public keep a three-day supply of bottled water and non-perishable food at home.
Prime Minister Andy Burnham, who held a meeting on fighting wildfires, stressed that the UK was previously in a defensive posture regarding emergency situations, but now must act proactively. The government announced a new plan to combat wildfires, which includes deploying military aviation.
Defense Minister Wes Streeting said cyber incidents like the PHP outage will become more frequent as artificial intelligence makes it easier to bypass traditional defenses. He also listed risks stemming from hostile states, organized crime, and climate change. "The UK is undoubtedly facing the highest level of risk seen in my entire lifetime," he said during an appearance on the BBC.
The recommendations issued by Britain are similar to last year's guidance from the European Commission, which advised European Union citizens to keep a 72-hour emergency kit containing essentials such as food, water, cash, and power banks.