IMAGO / Herrmann Agenturfotografie
Many websites have been taken offline in Berlin today. The reason for this action is a security vulnerability affecting the widely used programming language PHP, short for PHP: Hypertext Preprocessor. A large part of the entire internet is based on this language – from simple blogs and major news portals to complex online shops and content management systems like WordPress. PHP acts as a kind of technological engine in the background of almost 80% of all websites on the internet.
But due to a flaw that could allow attackers to take control of affected web servers without authentication and steal sensitive data, everything built on PHP was left exposed. It would be disastrous if hackers or countries weaponised the flaw and seized private data from websites, said cyber-security. OpenAI, whose technology was used to find the flaws, called the discovery “one of the most impactful security issues in recent memory”.
Among the affected websites are the online police stations of Berlin and Brandenburg. In Berlin, the website of the House of Representatives (parlament-berlin.de) is affected. The Brandenburg state portal (brandenburg.de) was offline on Thursday morning but is now accessible again. Organisations like the Berlin Food Bank may also be affected, as their website has not yet been brought back online. Individual institutions, such as local courts in Berlin, are also still affected.
The Federal Office for Information Security (BSI) therefore issued an official level 3 warning “exceptionally high”, and several IT security companies also warned of the vulnerability. In its statement, the BSI explicitly pointed out that the vulnerabilities pose an outstanding threat potential.
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