{
  "id": 16147244,
  "title": "Hacking attempts surge as companies, governments rush to patch PHP flaws",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/23/hacking-attempts-surge-as-companies-governments-rush-to-patch-php",
  "topic": "tech",
  "section": "Tech",
  "published": "2026-10-23T03:58:51.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Daily Maverick",
    "slug": "daily-maverick",
    "url": "https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2026-10-23-hacking-attempts-surge-as-companies-governments-rush-to-patch-php-flaws/"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Global firms and governments raced on Thursday to fix critical bugs in PHP, a programming language that powers much of the internet. Cloud companies reported a spike in hacking attempts following the disclosure of these vulnerabilities, with attacks reported even before fixes were available. Cloudflare CEO Matthew Prince said millions of attempts to exploit the flaws had occurred in the hours after the news broke. Microsoft's CEO Satya Nadella described the incident as one of the most dramatic tests of the programming tools that underpin the web, highlighting the need for secure software as systems become more complex. Companies and governments took websites offline as a precaution, causing widespread disruptions. Japanese companies, banks and rail services suspended internet services temporarily, while the Japanese government partially curtailed online services. The rapid response underscores the deep reliance on PHP, a decades-old language that few fully understand.",
  "summary": "TOKYO/BEIJING/AMSTERDAM, Oct 22 (Reuters) - Global firms and governments rushed on Thursday to patch critical flaws in the PHP programming language that underpins much of the internet, as cloud firms reported a surge of hacking attempts after the vulnerabilities were disclosed.",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 2,
    "also_reported_by": [
      {
        "outlet": "ABC News AU",
        "title": "Hacking attempts surge as websites race to patch PHP issues",
        "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/22/hacking-attempts-surge-as-websites-race-to-patch-php-issues",
        "published": "2026-10-22T14:22:54.000Z"
      }
    ]
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}