AI discovery triggers global website shutdowns

Government agencies and other organisations have taken websites offline as administrators race to address critical security flaws in PHP, a programming language widely used to run websites and online services.

The international disruption follows the discovery of vulnerabilities using artificial intelligence tools, prompting urgent security updates and precautionary shutdowns.

Reports of websites going dark do not, by themselves, establish that those organisations were successfully attacked. Some operators disconnected services to prevent intrusions while applying fixes.

PHP’s security team confirmed on 21 October that two critical vulnerabilities could allow an attacker to execute code remotely without first logging in.

The developers released security updates and urged users to install them immediately. Affected organisations face the risk that criminals could exploit vulnerable servers to interfere with services or gain access to information.

Reuters reported precautionary shutdowns affecting government, education and hospital websites in several European countries.

For South African organisations, the warning is relevant wherever PHP supports public websites, customer portals or internal applications. The PHP advisory says installations serving web requests are potentially exposed and that updating the underlying software is essential.

However, the available evidence does not establish a coordinated attack on South African government portals. Confirmation of any local incident would require information from the affected institutions or their service providers.

Sources: PHP security advisory, 21 October 2026; Reuters, “Websites taken offline over PHP risks”, 21 October 2026.