Britain’s defense chief urges public to prepare for cyberattack-driven supply chain disruptions

'It's right that we ask the country to be ready for those things and to ask everyone to do their bit,' says Wes Streeting

Britain’s defense secretary called on the public Thursday to take steps to be prepared for supply chain disruptions from cyberattacks or emergency situations. Wes Streeting warned that people needed to be more aware of emerging risks facing the UK and make plans to deal with them, the BBC reported. Speaking at the UK Gun Hall Plant in Telford, where he announced that the country has resumed domestic production of tank gun barrels for the first time in two decades, he stressed that the public needs to be prepared for cyberattacks on businesses or supply chain disruptions caused by "hostile state actors or terrorists." “But we’ll also need to take the country a step further and ask them are they prepared for increasingly sophisticated cyberattacks on our businesses, are they prepared for the eventuality that there may be disruption to essential supply chains caused by hostile state actors or terrorists?” he said. It comes after Environment Secretary Dame Angela Eagle said last month that people should prepare for extreme weather as the strongest El Nino event in a generation develops over the Pacific Ocean. "How would we cope if the payment systems at the local supermarket went down?" Streeting said, adding that those are the sorts of "everyday challenges and threats" that people could well face. "And it's right that we ask the country to be ready for those things and to ask everyone to do their bit," he added. The government is launching a "be ready" campaign to provide advice to the public, including by gathering supplies and finding out how to volunteer to support communities during an emergency. “It’s really important that we ask households and businesses, are they prepared, are they ready, do they know how they would respond in the event of everyday challenges that might manifest themselves? Streeting said.