PHP cyber threat rocks internet as government and companies scramble to fend off attacks
A cyber threat identified by tech researchers has left government bodies and multinationals as large as Amazon scrambling to build defences and stop hundreds of hacking attacks. The UK government announced that dozens of services had gone offline as a precautionary measure to fend off cyber threats exposed by vulnerabilities in programming languages. The Office [...]
A cyber security threat, detected by researchers, has caused widespread disruption to online services and prompted a scramble for protective measures. Government agencies, including the UK's Office for Budget Responsibility, as well as large corporations like Amazon, have been forced to go offline temporarily in an attempt to fend off hundreds of hacking attacks.
The Office for Budget Responsibility disclosed that it had taken its website offline after receiving advice from the National Cyber Security Centre. The budget preparation process was not compromised, however. Other affected organizations include the Scottish Parliament, Food Standards Agency, Environment Agency, Competition and Markets Authority, and Gambling Commission.
Baroness Lloyd-Rowling, a digital minister, explained that numerous government services were taken down proactively to enhance overall security. She emphasized that the government remained vigilant and worked with departments to ensure service resilience and availability.
Security researchers from firms like Calif and Wiz identified vulnerabilities in PHP, a programming language that powers numerous large-scale websites and services worldwide. The flaws, which were inadvertently leaked online, forced engineers to share warnings publicly throughout the week. Researchers utilized AI tools, including OpenAI's GPT-5.6 Sol and Google's Gemini 4 Argon, to detect the vulnerabilities.
The American company OpenAI acknowledged that AI could potentially aid attackers in rapidly developing tools and exploits. Matthew Prince, CEO of cloud and network multinational Cloudflare, reported millions of hacking attempts but noted that none were successful. Wikipedia and Amazon were among the affected organizations.
Earlier in the week, the UK government identified over 500 new vulnerabilities across critical areas of the public sector using a £13,000 model. AI Minister Kanishka Narayan stated that the government aimed to strengthen public sector security in response to these findings.
Written by urgent.news from City AM's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
