The AI-Hacking Apocalypse Began Last Night
Websites across the internet are going dark to protect themselves against a newly discovered vulnerability.
The internet is at risk of a complete collapse following the discovery of two critical security flaws in the PHP programming language, which powers approximately 70 percent of websites worldwide. In response, numerous government, hospital, and school websites in Europe went offline this morning. The organization responsible for PHP has confirmed that it is preparing to announce the vulnerabilities and release patches.
The flaws, which had been present in PHP for over a decade, were recently uncovered using artificial intelligence. Hackers have already attempted to exploit the vulnerabilities, potentially aided by AI, and fixing the issues may take companies days or weeks. As a result, tens of millions of servers, databases, and devices are currently exposed.
Sam Rubin, senior vice president at cybersecurity firm Palo Alto Networks, emphasized that PHP is a foundational component of the internet. This incident marks the culmination of a series of devastating AI-powered cybersecurity events over the past few weeks. Criminals and state-sponsored attackers have utilized AI to breach over 100 companies, including John Deere and SharkNinja; automate attacks on 400 financial institutions in Latin America; and steal hundreds of thousands of credit-card records from two companies.
In addition, AI attacks have targeted governments, data centers, and hospitals in Ukraine, Russia, Argentina, Bangladesh, and Indonesia. Today, developers of Node, a platform utilized by nearly half of software developers, disclosed multiple high-severity vulnerabilities. The situation has raised concerns about the balance between attackers and defenders, as AI technology allows hackers to work at an unprecedented speed while companies are cautious and risk-averse.
As a result, cybersecurity experts are warning that an impending cyber-apocalypse may have already begun. Recent advancements in AI have enabled models to identify vulnerabilities and write malware more efficiently than human teams. With the rate of software vulnerabilities identified per month doubling in the past year and the time required for hackers to exploit vulnerabilities dropping from weeks to hours, even automated intrusions can take as little as 39 seconds.
While cybersecurity firms and governments are working to strengthen defenses, the asymmetric advantage hackers gain through AI technology is likely to exacerbate the problem. Experts suggest that companies prepare to go offline as the most urgent and practical solution.
Written by urgent.news from The Atlantic's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
