Governments, firms suspend online services as hackers exploit security gaps
Governments and major corporations across the world have intensified emergency cybersecurity measures following the discovery of critical vulnerabilities in PHP, a programming language widely used to power websites and online services, as reported hacking attempts surged into the millions.
The vulnerabilities, which had remained undetected for years before being uncovered with the aid of artificial intelligence (AI), prompted website operators to rush out security updates, while several organisations temporarily suspended online services to prevent potential attacks.
Cloud services provider Cloudflare reported a sharp increase in attempts to exploit the flaws following their public disclosure, highlighting the growing challenge of securing digital infrastructure against increasingly sophisticated cyber threats.
Cloudflare Chief Executive Officer, Matthew Prince, said his company detected thousands of exploitation attempts in the 10 hours before the vulnerabilities were publicly announced. The figure rose to tens of thousands within 45 minutes of the announcement, hundreds of thousands within two hours and eventually millions.
Microsoft Chief Executive Officer, Satya Nadella, described the incident as an extraordinary cybersecurity challenge, saying he had not witnessed anything comparable in a long time.
Speaking at an event in Germany on Thursday, Nadella stressed the importance of developing software that could be maintained securely as digital systems became increasingly complex.
The vulnerabilities triggered precautionary shutdowns and security reviews across several countries, exposing the widespread dependence of governments and businesses on PHP-based systems.
In Japan, major financial institutions, including Nomura and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, alongside airline All Nippon Airways and East Japan Railway, temporarily suspended some online services as part of emergency security measures.
Brewer Asahi Group Holdings also suspended selected websites and systems while assessing potential security risks, while insurer Tokio Marine Holdings temporarily shut down its group website.
Japan’s Ministry of Finance, Meteorological Agency and National Tax Agency also restricted access to some online services to implement protective measures.
French telecommunications group Orange similarly suspended access to certain PHP-based websites and applications across several subsidiaries as a precaution.
In Finland, state IT services provider Valtori began gradually restoring government websites after temporarily shutting down public online services a day earlier. The agency said the outages were precautionary and that it had no evidence the vulnerabilities had been exploited or that a cyber breach had occurred.
Valtori’s Director-General, Hannu Naumanen, warned that restoring affected services could take days or weeks because systems must undergo careful testing after security updates are installed.
Meanwhile, China and South Korea stepped up their cybersecurity responses. China’s industry ministry urged organisations and users to inspect their systems, install updated PHP versions and strengthen security monitoring, including changing passwords and access keys where necessary.
South Korea raised its private-sector cybersecurity alert level and activated emergency response measures amid concerns that the disclosure could increase the risk of hacking attacks.
Belgian cybersecurity firm Aikido Security warned that information about the vulnerabilities had become public before all necessary fixes were available, giving potential attackers an opportunity to develop exploits.
The company’s co-founder, Madeline Lawrence, said organisations were racing to update their systems while confronting attackers capable of using AI to exploit security weaknesses.
Felix Kuhlenkamp, head of security at German digital industry association Bitkom, said many large operators had already begun installing updates, but smaller organisations and operators of complex IT systems could face longer delays.
He warned that some organisations might be running websites on outdated PHP versions for which security updates were no longer available, potentially forcing them to upgrade entire systems rather than apply simple patches.
PHP being one of the internet’s widely used programming languages, supporting websites and online applications across multiple sectors raises renewed concerns about the security of ageing software infrastructure and the difficulty of protecting systems whose underlying vulnerabilities may remain undetected for years.
