Websites taken down across Europe ahead of critical cyber-security update
European government agencies and organizations, including the BBC and the Finnish government, have taken websites offline to address critical vulnerabilities in the PHP programming language. Cyber-security agencies globally are urging immediate software updates to mitigate potential exploitation risks.
Why it matters
PHP powers a vast portion of the internet, and these vulnerabilities pose a significant threat to global digital infrastructure and data security.
Image source, Getty Images By Tom Gerken Technology reporter Published 21 October 2026, 13:09 BST Updated 5 minutes ago The Finnish government, Edinburgh council and the BBC are among those to have taken down sites and pages down ahead of a software update to a programming language which underpins many online services.
Two critical vulnerabilities with the PHP programming language, which is widely used across the internet, have been identified - with a fix issued for them on Wednesday afternoon.
Multiple cyber-security agencies have urged organisations to rapidly adopt the updates, or consider taking their websites offline.
Finland has temporarily shut down the government's public web services, while the Netherlands' cyber-security agency said it was taking its own website offline due to the vulnerabilities.
Meanwhile, Edinburgh council's website has become inaccessible, as well as the online homes for several BBC programmes including Doctor Who and The Traitors.
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