I'm a CTO who was awake for 48 hours because of the PHP crisis. October feels like the month of hell for tech.
A CTO shares what it was like to go 48 hours without sleep as he dealt with the PHP security flaw — and why he expects more AI cyber crises.
Nick Woodhead, CTO of GPTree and Rothco and Compubox, spent 48 hours awake addressing a PHP security flaw that threatened numerous websites. With AI's ease in finding security gaps, Woodhead anticipates further disruptions. PHP powers around 70% of the internet, and Woodhead, both a CTO and agency owner, scrambled to patch the vulnerability.
He activated offshore teams, ensuring patches were applied without exposing exposed systems. However, many legacy PHP systems lacking official patches required temporary offline measures. Despite being hands-on in leadership for a decade, Woodhead remains deeply involved in infrastructure and development. They're also reviewing Node.js for potential vulnerabilities, as October seems like a month of technological turmoil, with AI's both positive and negative impacts looming.
Written by urgent.news from Business Insider's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
