Race to update services' computer systems after cyber-security flaw found
Critical security vulnerabilities in the PHP programming language have forced organizations and the UK government to take systems offline for patching. While no successful breaches have been reported, officials describe the situation as an unprecedented risk.
Why it matters
PHP powers a massive portion of the internet; vulnerabilities in such foundational infrastructure pose a systemic risk to global digital services.
Figure caption, How did AI discover the internet's massive cyber-security risk?
Organisations and businesses are still scrambling to update their systems after cyber-security flaws were revealed in a widely-used programming language, PHP.
Websites around the world were taken offline on Wednesday and Thursday after the developers of PHP said "critical vulnerabilities" were found in the back-end language, used in web development for decades.
Researchers warned the "severe" flaws could expose millions of sites using it to potential hacks if left unpatched - and the UK government was among those to take some sites offline as a precaution.
There have been no successful attacks reported so far, but experts say any impact may take time - even months - to become fully apparent.
Downing Street said on Thursday "some" limited government services "may be offline" while security work was being carried out.
Headlinne story · 7 newsrooms
Global Websites Go Dark After AI Uncovers Critical Programming Language Flaws
What every outlet reported, where they differ, and how each framed it →
Also covering this story
One other newsroom covered this event. We read that version too.
Get smarter about the news
Sign up free for a feed built around what you actually care about, Dive Deeper research on any story, and the full text of every article.
Create free accountAlready have an account? Sign in