Canada has temporarily shut down some federal websites due to a security threat. The move was made after experts identified a vulnerability in PHP software, which is widely used to power websites.
What happened
Artificial Intelligence Minister Evan Solomon announced that the precautionary measure was taken on the advice of the Canadian Centre for Cyber Security. The vulnerability in PHP could allow malicious actors to remotely execute code, potentially compromising sensitive data and networks.
The PHP Foundation has released fixes for the vulnerabilities, along with instructions on how to update systems. Cybersecurity officials have warned that roughly 70 percent of all websites on the internet use PHP, including popular sites such as WordPress, Wikipedia, and Facebook.
The United States' Federal Bureau of Investigation's cyber division has also warned about the vulnerability, and cybersecurity companies have urged website operators to install security updates as soon as possible. The Canadian government has not specified which federal websites were taken offline, but has said that they will be restored once patches are applied.
Cybersecurity company Huntress has warned that information about the vulnerabilities surfaced online before their scheduled disclosure and before patches were available, and has urged website operators to take the threat seriously and apply patches when available.
