The UK government has taken 32 services offline amid global cyber security concerns linked to a serious software vulnerability. Four additional services are partially unavailable, according to British minister Baroness Lloyd.
Lloyd confirmed the disruption in the House of Lords. She said the situation followed the discovery of a serious security flaw in PHP, a programming language widely used by websites.
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The government is working to address the vulnerability and has introduced precautionary measures for security updates. Officials are continuing efforts to manage the issue and reduce potential risks to affected services.
Meanwhile, Downing Street said on Thursday that no major public-facing government services had been affected. However, authorities temporarily shut down some smaller government websites while they work to resolve the problems.
The government clarified that taking websites offline does not necessarily mean hackers had compromised them. The precautionary shutdowns aim to address the security concerns while officials investigate and respond to the vulnerability.
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PHP is widely used to build and operate websites, making security weaknesses in the language a potential concern for organisations relying on it. However, the reported disruption does not establish that all affected services suffered a cyberattack.
The incident highlights the challenges governments face in maintaining secure digital services amid emerging software vulnerabilities. British authorities are continuing their response, while Downing Street maintains that essential public-facing services remain operational.