Cybersecurity leaders warned of a coming 'vulnerability tsunami' after AI tools exposed critical flaws in PHP, a programming language underlying about 70% of websites. NPR reported hacking attempts are rising, Amazon said it saw attacks before the warning was public, and IT workers described relentless patching. A UK minister said 500 new vulnerabilities had been found in government systems.
Why it matters: Governments and companies worldwide have taken websites offline or rushed patches to prevent breaches.
A major tech company reported millions of attempts to exploit two critical PHP vulnerabilities found by AI, and Amazon said it saw attacks before the warning was made public. PHP's developers released fixes on Wednesday, and governments, banks and companies took websites offline while updating; a UK minister said 500 new vulnerabilities had been found in government systems.
Why it matters: PHP runs a large share of the world's websites, so unpatched servers can be taken over remotely without authentication.
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.