AI finds new ways to hack PHP: What it means, and is your data safe?

AI has discovered critical security flaws in PHP, a programming language used by an estimated 70 percent of the world's websites. As AI's capabilities advance, concerns over increased cyberattack risks grow. PHP, originally standing for Personal Home Page, is a backbone of web design platforms, meaning flaws could allow hackers to break into various sites, from online stores to government services.

Wiz Research used AI to uncover vulnerabilities hidden in PHP for over a decade and released a fix on Wednesday. Many websites, including the Paris police website and a Pokemon sleep tracker, went dark as developers worked to patch their underlying code. Large tech companies like OpenAI and Google used cutting-edge AI models to find PHP's weak spots in August.

This new phase, where AI can find security bugs with internet-scale impact, has raised concerns about the speed at which information can be weaponized. Senior lecturer in cybersecurity, Steve Kerrison, warns that taking websites offline does not necessarily mean they have been hacked and urges institutions to fix their websites quickly to avoid potential data breaches and phishing attacks.