Amazon · BBC Technology
UK working to identify exposure after global cyber-security warning
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The UK government says it is working to identify any potential exposure in its online services, after critical cyber-security flaws were identified in the PHP programming language that underpins several the world's websites.
Key facts
- Surrey Centre for Cyber Security Prof Alan Woodward said the flaw affects some 30 million websites
- Cyber security researcher Ryan Austin, who has been researching PHP security for the last 20 years, said he discovered the flaw in the programming language
- Listen to BBC Radio 4 Today programme on BBC Sounds
- The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) said it had followed guidance to take its website offline, "in view of the critical security issues affecting PHP
Summary
Governments and some of the world's biggest companies are rushing to protect systems that use PHP before hackers can exploit the flaws. The flaws were first discovered by AI, after which governments urged anyone who uses PHP to address them. A UK government spokesperson urged "all organisations, private and public, large and small" to follow guidance to protect their systems. The UK's National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC), as well as its counterparts in the EU and Australia, earlier urged those who use PHP to apply the fixes.