Simon Campanello: Now half the internet rushes to stop the hackers

What is PHP?

- PHP is a programming language that is widely used by web developers to build everything from online stores and forums to publishing systems such as Wordpress, Drupal and Joomla. In total, it is estimated that over two-thirds of all websites use PHP in some form.

What has happened?

- On October 20, it became known that there are two serious vulnerabilities that affect all versions of PHP released since 2012. These vulnerabilities are called PHP2Shell and could allow hackers to take over websites and servers, steal data or spread malicious code.

- On Wednesday, October 21, the developers behind PHP released an update that fixes the security holes, but now millions of websites have to install it to stop the hackers.

What do companies and authorities do?

- Right now, half the internet is rushing to catch up with the hackers. Many organizations chose during Wednesday to take down all or parts of their websites in order to be able to update them in peace and quiet. Authorities in, among others, Finland, France and Japan chose to shut down several services and parts of Wikipedia were closed for a few hours.

- Some are already up again, but the question is how it will go for smaller players who use very old versions of PHP. After all, it is about tens of millions of websites that need to be updated, and they are run by everything from large giant companies to small associations and private individuals.

How does AI come into play?

- These vulnerabilities clearly show how AI is a double-edged sword for cybersecurity. On the one hand, the problems were discovered thanks to AI-based security tests, they actually seem to have been discovered by two independent security firms, one working with Open AI and the other with Google.

- On the other hand, today's AI solutions mean that hackers can carry out cyber attacks much faster. Twelve hours after the update was released, the IT security company Cloudflare had already registered millions of attempts to exploit the vulnerabilities to hack websites, and many IT security experts believe that the pace is so high precisely because the hackers have been able to automate their intrusion attempts.

- AI thus makes the internet both safer and more dangerous at the same time.

What can I as a private person do to protect myself?

- It is above all those who run websites or other web services who need to ensure that their systems are updated so that they are not exposed to hacker attacks. There is, however, a risk that hackers manage to take over websites and use them to spread malicious code or for password fishing, but that risk always exists. As usual, it is important to keep your mobile and computer up to date and to be careful what you click on.