Public to be told how to prepare for cyber-attack and weather emergencies

Public to be told how to prepare for cyber-attack and weather emergenciesImage source, ReutersByKate WhannelPolitical reporterPublished16 minutes agoThe public will be urged to take "small but important steps" to prepare for food or water shortages in the event of a cyber-attack or severe weather, the government has said as it updated Parliament on its national resilience plans.Cabinet Office Minister Darren Jones said a public awareness campaign would be launched later this year to help people prepare for emergencies. He also said the government would carry out the "largest UK home defence exercise in several decades" next year to ensure the UK is ready "should the worst ever happen". Separately, the national risk register, external has been updated with seven new risks including the threat of a cyber-attack on water infrastructure.The threat of "digital resilience failure" - such as the global CrowdStrike outage which crippled more than eight million computers - has also been added to the list of the most acute risks facing the UK, which totals 95.One risk has been removed from the register. The threat of disruption to Russian gas supplies is no longer on the list "reflecting that the UK has reduced its reliance on Russian gas". The introduction of the risk register said the country's resilience had been "tested like never before" by global events, pointing to disruption to oil supplies, the Russia-Ukraine conflict, an outbreak of hantavirus and rapid AI developments.UK lacks plan to defend itself from invasion, MPs warnPublished19 November 2025A pandemic is here. What else should we be worried about?Published25 October 2020Pandemic and extreme weather among key UK risksPublished3 August 2023Jones said: "Throughout our history, the UK has overcome challenges from plagues and pandemics to war and our fair share of wet weather. "It is right that we consistently evaluate the risks we could fac...