Hundreds of Icelandic websites exposed by PHP security flaws

Hundreds of Icelandic web servers have been found vulnerable due to serious security issues in the PHP programming language, leaving a large number of websites at risk of attack. The vulnerabilities, first reported by RÚV, have prompted urgent warnings from security officials in Iceland.

The director of CERT-IS, Iceland’s national computer emergency response team, has urged all operators of websites using PHP to update their systems quickly in order to address these risks, RÚV reported. CERT-IS had not received any reports of successful intrusions exploiting the vulnerabilities at the time of reporting, but officials warned that prompt action is needed.

Magni R. Sigurðsson, speaking to RÚV, said: “So it is not unusual for websites to now go down to some extent.” Attacks exploiting the PHP flaws began before patches were released for the vulnerabilities, and as a result, many websites have been taken down temporarily in several European countries including the Netherlands, Finland, Germany, France and Belgium, according to reports.

Vísir noted that PHP is used in about seventy percent of websites worldwide. The scope of the issue means that the risk extends far beyond Iceland, though hundreds of web servers in the country have already been confirmed as exposed.

TopicsCERT-IScybersecurityIcelandPHPWeb security