UK tells public to keep three days' emergency supplies at home

The British government advised the public on Friday to keep three days of emergency supplies at home, ​a message it said had been hammered home by ‌this week's PHP software glitch, as well as a record-setting summer of heat, drought and wildfires.

Governments and businesses worldwide have rushed to secure systems running the ​PHP programming language after flaws were disclosed on Wednesday, forcing ​some services offline and triggering millions of hacking attempts in ⁠one of the most significant cybersecurity incidents in recent years.

The ​British government said the internet outage showed the importance of its ​newly launched "Be Ready" campaign, which advises the public to keep three days of bottled water and non-perishable food in the house.

Prime Minister Andy Burnham, hosting ​a meeting on the response to wildfires, said that in the ​past Britain had been "on the back foot" responding to emergencies and that it ‌needed ⁠to be more proactive. The government announced a new wildfire response plan that includes deploying military aircraft.

Defence Secretary Wes Streeting said cyber incidents such as the PHP outage would become more common as ​AI made it ​easier to find ⁠ways to thwart traditional defences. He also cited risks from hostile states, organised criminals and climate ​change.

The UK was facing a greater level of threat "than ​we ⁠have certainly for most, if not all, of my lifetime", he said during an appearance on the BBC's "Question Time" programme broadcast overnight.

Britain's advice ⁠is ​similar to that issued by the European ​Commission, which told EU citizens last year to keep a 72-hour emergency kit containing supplies ​such as food, water, cash and power banks.