Source : Perth Now news
Australia’s lead cyber security agency is among government websites across the world disrupted by “critical vulnerabilities” in background programming code that powers swathes of the web.
The Australian Signals Directorate said it was aware of reported issues “in PHP that may affect all versions from PHP 5 onwards”.
“Organisations and individuals should monitor PHP applications and prepare to update and apply patches,” it posted on social media.
The agency invited people to read the full alert on the Australian Cyber Security Centre’s website, but as of Thursday morning the site – which is powered by PHP – displayed an error notice.
A spokesperson for Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke told NewsWire authorities were “aware of disruptions”.
“Some websites are temporarily unavailable as work is undertaken to mitigate risks arising from this vulnerability,” the spokesperson said.
“Organisations and individuals using PHP within their environments should follow advice from the Australian Signals Directorate and monitor and review PHP official guidance, and apply security patches as they become available.”
PHP powers up to 70 per cent of websites worldwide, including website builder WordPress.
In a statement, PHP said “all PHP installations serving web requests” were at risk.
It warned that if that if the vulnerabilities were exploited, hackers could commandeer internet servers.
More to come
