Cybersecurity flaw takes UK government services offline

Thirty-two UK government services were unavailable and another four partially unavailable on Thursday as authorities responded to a global cybersecurity problem.

Technology minister Liz Lloyd gave the figures in the House of Lords. The disruption largely followed precautionary action while security fixes were installed.

The problem involves PHP, a programming language used to run websites and online applications. Britain’s National Cyber Security Centre has urged organisations to act immediately to address two critical vulnerabilities.

Downing Street said major public-facing critical systems had not been affected. However, the Office for Budget Responsibility’s website was among those affected.

The disruption extended beyond Britain. Reuters reported that government websites in Europe and elsewhere were taken offline on Wednesday as operators worked to protect their systems.

The confirmed service interruptions do not, by themselves, establish that the affected systems were successfully attacked or that information was stolen.

Sources: The Guardian, parliamentary update, 22 October; The Independent, 22 October; National Cyber Security Centre, 21 October; Reuters, 21 October.