Technology · Brussels, Belgium · October 21, 2026

Websites taken offline worldwide after critical PHP flaw

Reported by 3 outlets · first reported Oct 21, 9:28 AM ET

Government and business websites across Europe and elsewhere were taken offline as a precaution after critical vulnerabilities were found in PHP, a widely used programming language, and a security update was issued. The flaws were described as the most significant ever found by AI.

Why it matters

PHP runs a large share of the web, so the flaw affected services across many countries at once.

Background

PHP is a server-side language underpinning many websites and content systems. AI tools are increasingly used to find software vulnerabilities.

The story so far

1. Oct 21Websites taken offline worldwide after critical PHP flaw
2. Oct 22Millions of exploitation attempts reported after PHP flaws disclosed
3. Oct 23Hacking attempts rise after AI-found PHP flaws
4. Oct 24Japan to simulate cyberattacks after PHP flaws

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Sources

• BBC Technology ↗Oct 21, 12:07 PM ET
• Sky News ↗Oct 21, 9:28 AM ET

This summary was written automatically from the reporting linked above; follow the sources for the full story. How One Turn works.

See it on the globe →All of Oct 21's stories