Brits told to stock up on food and prepare for Russian WW3 attack | UK

The public will be urged to stock up on food and water later this year in case Russian cyber attacks hinder supplies. The Government is planning to launch a “national resilience campaign” before the end of the year which will help the public to prepare for emergencies including cyberattacks and extreme weather events.

It comes amid an uptick in Russian cyber attacks on critical infrastructure including the UK’s transport network, NHS and major industries. Darren Jones , the chief secretary to the Prime Minister, said the campaign would help people take “small but important steps to be prepared in case of emergencies and disruption”. He said: “The Government will do all it can and we are well prepared – but we can all play our part to keep ourselves and our loved ones safe.”

He added the advice would focus on incidents such as extreme weather or major cyberattacks that could interrupt the power grid, water supplies or mobile phone signal.

The campaign comes as the UK continues to experience a series of heatwaves already estimated to have killed 2,700 people in England and Wales as well as straining water supplies and putting pressure on the power grid.

At the same time, Western governments have expressed mounting concern the potential impact of cyberattacks on energy supplies.

On Monday, the UK and allies accused Russia of an attempted hack targeting Poland’s power grid last December that, they said, could have left 500,000 people without electricity in the depths of winter.

In response to the mounting risk of “hybrid” attacks on the UK, Mr Jones said the Government would hold a major defence exercise year.

Dubbed Operation Albiston Shadow, the exercise will take place over several days and involve ministers and hundreds of officials from across Government.

Mr Jones said on Tuesday he had also updated the UK’s National Risk Register, adding seven new entries to the Government’s official assessment of the most significant risks facing the UK.

Those new entries include the risk of cyberattacks targeting data and water infrastructure and police systems, as well as “digital resilience failure” such as the disruption caused by the 2024 Crowdstrike outage that knocked infrastructure, transport and healthcare systems offline.

The risk of foreign interference in the UK’s democratic process has also been added to the register as the Government seeks to boost Britain’s defences with new laws on political donations.

Mr Jones said: “Throughout our history, the UK has overcome challenges from plagues and pandemics to war and our fair of wet weather.

“It is right that we consistently evaluate the risks we could face and plan for what may come.

“This year we saw temperatures across the UK breaking records in May, only to be exceeded again in June, and AI offers new ways for criminals to carry out cyber-attacks against us, as well as offering huge opportunities for our economy and security.”