Express asks if Brits should prepare to stockpile essentials

UK households are being urged to be prepared for crisis situations with three days of key supplies. But are warnings of “disruption to essential supply chains” just scaremongering? Defence Secretary Wes Streeting sounded the alarm over “increasingly sophisticated cyber attacks” on British infrastructure on Thursday.

Launching the Government’s new “be ready” campaign, he said cyber incidents such as the critical security flaw in the PHP programming language that has left organisations around the world scrambling will happen “more and more”. Mr Streeting also released a checklist advising Brits to stock up on three days’ worth of bottled water and non-perishable goods, a battery or wind-up FM radio to receive updates during outages and cash in case cash machines or electric payments are disrupted.

He said there was not a “specific thing” in mind when considering potential emergency incidents, but suggested the advice might help during power cuts or in the event of a cyber attack on local shops. It was a matter of “everyday national resilience”, he added.

Accused of “scaremongering” by an audience member on BBC Question Time, the minister said: “We want people to be alert but not alarmed, and the truth is we looked around the rest of Europe, ‘what are our friends doing across the continent?’ They are way ahead of us on some of this stuff.”

Shadow national security minister Alice Kearns also accused Mr Streeting of “lecturing the public”. She said: “Preparing for emergencies is important. But the Government should get its own house in order before lecturing the public. It isn’t families that are failing to fund our defence or secure reliable energy – it’s Labour.” Ms Kearns added: “With rising threats to our national security, we must be ready to face all eventualities. We each have a role to play, but the Government must lead by example.”

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It comes after a “critical security issue” was discovered in PHP, software which is used by almost 70% of websites, this week. The issue could allow attackers to remotely control any web servers running PHP, according to reports.

The National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) urged organisations to update to a new, fixed version of PHP or consider taking their websites offline if unable to upgrade immediately. Attempts at exploiting the disruption were spotted within hours of it being announced, according to Amazon and Cloudfare.

Thirty-two Government services went offline and two were partially unavailable while work was carried out to address potential cyber-security issues, a minister said. A Government spokesperson added: “Work is already under way across Government to actively identify and patch any potential exposure. We encourage all organisations – private and public, large and small – to follow guidance issued by the NCSC to understand their exposure and take the necessary actions to safeguard their systems.”