Australian government cybersecurity sites hit by global PHP flaw
Summarised from 2 outlets · Updated 21 Oct, 22:02 · Archive
Australia's cybersecurity agency and other government websites have been affected by critical vulnerabilities in PHP, a programming language powering millions of sites.
Australia's cybersecurity agency, the Australian Signals Directorate, confirmed that its website and other Australian government sites were affected by two critical vulnerabilities in PHP, a programming language used to power millions of websites globally. The agency said it was aware of the outage and advised organisations and individuals using PHP to monitor official guidance and apply security patches.
The flaws in PHP were discovered using artificial intelligence tools and had been present in the software for years before being identified. Developers released urgent fixes on Wednesday after the vulnerabilities were disclosed. Government websites in Europe and Asia also went offline as a precaution, with the Netherlands and Finland among countries taking this step. Hackers were reported to be already exploiting the flaws to break into websites.
The Dutch prime minister said he was closely monitoring the situation, whilst Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi urged website owners to apply the new fix. The Australian Department of Home Affairs was contacted for further comment.
How it is being reported
- Government cybersecurity website hit in global flawAustralian government websites, including the Australian Signals Directorate, have been affected by a critical flaw in programming that powers the internet.Perth Now · 21 Oct, 21:34
- Government cybersecurity website hit in global flawAustralian government websites, including the Australian Signals Directorate, have been affected by a critical flaw in programming that powers the internet.The West Australian · 21 Oct, 21:34
In this story: Australian Signals Directorate · PHP · Australia · Netherlands · Finland · Japan
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