Websites Taken Down Worldwide as Critical PHP Cyber-Security Update Issued
BBC News reports on a significant cyber-security event:
International governments and agencies have urged websites to address two critical vulnerabilities found in the PHP programming language, a key component of much of the internet. A fix was issued on Wednesday afternoon.
Multiple organizations, including the Finnish government, Edinburgh council, and the BBC, have taken their websites offline due to the inability to apply the fix in time.
The vulnerabilities, discovered by AI, are considered the "most severe" ever found by Wiz, a cyber-security firm. The US National Security Agency and Japan's Prime Minister have advised organizations to take their systems offline if they cannot update promptly.
The White House has announced federal agencies are collaborating with leading AI labs to expedite a solution.
According to the firms, these vulnerabilities had gone undetected for over a decade, affecting "roughly 70%" of the internet, though this figure cannot be independently verified.
The Netherlands' cyber-security agency and several other government bodies have also taken their websites down.
The UK's National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) and similar organizations in the EU and Australia have urged PHP users to apply the fixes, suggesting taking systems offline if immediate remediation is not possible.
Early attacks are already emerging due to these vulnerabilities.