NSA Warns 70% of Websites to Patch PHP Flaws as AI Speeds Millions of Attack Attempts
Updated
Updated · The Washington Post · Nov 12
NSA Warns 70% of Websites to Patch PHP Flaws as AI Speeds Millions of Attack Attempts
3 articles · Updated · The Washington Post · Nov 12
Summary
Millions of break-in attempts hit vulnerable PHP systems within 24 hours of public disclosure, after the NSA urged website operators to patch immediately or take sites offline.
PHP underpins roughly 7 in 10 websites, and researchers used AI to uncover flaws in code dating to 2012, sharply accelerating what used to be a slow search for exploitable bugs.
Nearly 60% of exposed PHP servers run versions so old that no official fix exists, and only about a third of tracked servers had installed the patch a week later.
The episode highlights a broader risk: decades of rushed, underfunded software development left critical internet foundations brittle just as AI makes those weaknesses easier for both elite and amateur hackers to find.
The author argues governments, universities, industry and AI firms must use the same tools to audit shared internet code and screen new software before release, or face wider disruptions to banks, hospitals and utilities.