--- title: "Companies and governments rush to patch critical PHP flaws as attacks reach the millions" description: "Banks, insurers, tax agencies and railways suspended services on Thursday while hacking attempts against the flaws climbed from thousands to millions." url: https://insurance.skoop.news/millions-of-hacking-attempts-as-companies-governments-rush-t-da8c6d/ published: 2026-10-22T15:35:12.305850-04:00 modified: 2026-10-22T15:35:12.305850-04:00 section: "Insurance" publisher: "skoop.news" language: en keywords: ["PHP", "Valtori Director General Hannu Naumanen", "Brewer Asahi Group Holdings", "Cloudflare CEO Matthew Prince", "Felix Kuhlenkamp of Bitkom", "Insurer Tokio Marine Holdings", "Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella", "ANA", "Belgian", "Europe"] hashtags: ["#BrewerAsahiGroupHoldings", "#CloudflareCEOMatthewPrince", "#Insurer", "#insurance", "#insurancenews"] image: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/43/Sadler_thursday.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail_unscaled --- # Companies and governments rush to patch critical PHP flaws as attacks reach the millions > Banks, insurers, tax agencies and railways suspended services on Thursday while hacking attempts against the flaws climbed from thousands to millions. Published 2026-10-22 · Insurance, [skoop.news](https://skoop.news/) ## In brief - Hacking attempts against the PHP flaws surged into the millions as companies and governments deployed patches and suspended websites, according to Cloudflare [[1]](https://www.huffpost.com/entry/php-cybersecurity-flaws_n_6ada0890e4b0ba084e14ffa9). - Cloudflare CEO Matthew Prince said the network saw thousands of attempts to exploit the flaw in the 10 hours before public announcement [[1]](https://www.huffpost.com/entry/php-cybersecurity-flaws_n_6ada0890e4b0ba084e14ffa9). - Japanese companies including Nomura, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, ANA and East Japan Railway said on Thursday they were temporarily suspending some internet services as emergency measures [[1]](https://www.huffpost.com/entry/php-cybersecurity-flaws_n_6ada0890e4b0ba084e14ffa9). ## A global scramble to patch Hacking attempts against the PHP flaws surged into the millions as companies and governments deployed patches and suspended websites, according to Cloudflare [[1]](https://www.huffpost.com/entry/php-cybersecurity-flaws_n_6ada0890e4b0ba084e14ffa9). Companies and governments worldwide rushed on Thursday to patch critical flaws in the widely used PHP programming language [[1]](https://www.huffpost.com/entry/php-cybersecurity-flaws_n_6ada0890e4b0ba084e14ffa9). Governments in Europe and elsewhere took websites offline as a precaution on Wednesday [[1]](https://www.huffpost.com/entry/php-cybersecurity-flaws_n_6ada0890e4b0ba084e14ffa9). PHP developers released urgent fixes on Wednesday and urged users to update immediately [[1]](https://www.huffpost.com/entry/php-cybersecurity-flaws_n_6ada0890e4b0ba084e14ffa9). ## How the attacks grew Cloudflare CEO Matthew Prince said the network saw thousands of attempts to exploit the flaw in the 10 hours before public announcement [[1]](https://www.huffpost.com/entry/php-cybersecurity-flaws_n_6ada0890e4b0ba084e14ffa9). Attempts rose to tens of thousands in the 45 minutes after announcement, hundreds of thousands within 2 hours, and millions by the time of Prince's post [[1]](https://www.huffpost.com/entry/php-cybersecurity-flaws_n_6ada0890e4b0ba084e14ffa9). Madeline Lawrence, co-founder of Belgian cybersecurity firm Aikido Security, said details of the flaws became public before fixes were ready, and attacks have since been reported [[1]](https://www.huffpost.com/entry/php-cybersecurity-flaws_n_6ada0890e4b0ba084e14ffa9). The vulnerabilities had lurked in the software for years until they were uncovered using AI [[1]](https://www.huffpost.com/entry/php-cybersecurity-flaws_n_6ada0890e4b0ba084e14ffa9). Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said he had not seen anything like this in a long time [[1]](https://www.huffpost.com/entry/php-cybersecurity-flaws_n_6ada0890e4b0ba084e14ffa9). He said the episode underscored the importance of building digital systems that can be maintained securely [[1]](https://www.huffpost.com/entry/php-cybersecurity-flaws_n_6ada0890e4b0ba084e14ffa9). ## Japan suspends services Japanese companies including Nomura, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, ANA and East Japan Railway said on Thursday they were temporarily suspending some internet services as emergency measures [[1]](https://www.huffpost.com/entry/php-cybersecurity-flaws_n_6ada0890e4b0ba084e14ffa9). Insurer Tokio Marine Holdings said it had suspended the website of a group company [[1]](https://www.huffpost.com/entry/php-cybersecurity-flaws_n_6ada0890e4b0ba084e14ffa9). Brewer Asahi Group Holdings temporarily suspended certain websites and systems and was conducting a security impact assessment [[2]](https://www.insurancejournal.com/news/international/2026/10/22/889983.htm). Japan's Ministry of Finance and Meteorological Agency partially suspended online services to implement safety measures [[1]](https://www.huffpost.com/entry/php-cybersecurity-flaws_n_6ada0890e4b0ba084e14ffa9). The National Tax Agency temporarily took down its service [[1]](https://www.huffpost.com/entry/php-cybersecurity-flaws_n_6ada0890e4b0ba084e14ffa9). Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi urged website operators on Wednesday to check whether their systems used PHP and prepare to install the security fixes [[3]](https://cyprus-mail.com/2026/10/22/millions-of-hacking-attempts-trigger-global-cybersecurity-alert). Japan recorded more cyber incidents in the first nine months of the year than in all of last year, according to TrendAI data [[1]](https://www.huffpost.com/entry/php-cybersecurity-flaws_n_6ada0890e4b0ba084e14ffa9). ## Responses in Europe and Asia French telecoms group Orange temporarily suspended access to certain PHP-based websites and applications across several subsidiaries as a precaution [[1]](https://www.huffpost.com/entry/php-cybersecurity-flaws_n_6ada0890e4b0ba084e14ffa9). Finland's state IT services provider Valtori shut down government public web services a day before the Thursday report and was gradually lifting precautionary service blocks [[1]](https://www.huffpost.com/entry/php-cybersecurity-flaws_n_6ada0890e4b0ba084e14ffa9). Valtori said its outages were not caused by exploitation of the vulnerabilities or by a cyber breach, and it was not aware of any active exploitation of the flaws [[1]](https://www.huffpost.com/entry/php-cybersecurity-flaws_n_6ada0890e4b0ba084e14ffa9). Several Asian governments ordered cybersecurity inspections related to the PHP vulnerabilities on Thursday [[1]](https://www.huffpost.com/entry/php-cybersecurity-flaws_n_6ada0890e4b0ba084e14ffa9). China's industry ministry urged organizations and users to inspect systems immediately and upgrade to the latest secure version of PHP [[1]](https://www.huffpost.com/entry/php-cybersecurity-flaws_n_6ada0890e4b0ba084e14ffa9). It also recommended strengthening cybersecurity monitoring and changing accounts, passwords and keys where necessary [[1]](https://www.huffpost.com/entry/php-cybersecurity-flaws_n_6ada0890e4b0ba084e14ffa9). South Korea raised its private-sector cybersecurity alert level and activated emergency response measures, citing an increased risk of hacking attacks [[1]](https://www.huffpost.com/entry/php-cybersecurity-flaws_n_6ada0890e4b0ba084e14ffa9). The country's science ministry said the vulnerabilities could allow attackers to execute malicious commands without authentication, steal sensitive information or take websites offline [[3]](https://cyprus-mail.com/2026/10/22/millions-of-hacking-attempts-trigger-global-cybersecurity-alert). Tencent Cloud urged customers to install updated PHP versions but stopped short of calling for widespread website shutdowns [[1]](https://www.huffpost.com/entry/php-cybersecurity-flaws_n_6ada0890e4b0ba084e14ffa9). ## What it means for you If your website runs PHP, the developers urged users to update immediately [[1]](https://www.huffpost.com/entry/php-cybersecurity-flaws_n_6ada0890e4b0ba084e14ffa9). Japan's prime minister urged operators to check whether their systems used PHP and prepare to install the fixes [[3]](https://cyprus-mail.com/2026/10/22/millions-of-hacking-attempts-trigger-global-cybersecurity-alert). China's industry ministry also recommended changing accounts, passwords and keys where necessary [[1]](https://www.huffpost.com/entry/php-cybersecurity-flaws_n_6ada0890e4b0ba084e14ffa9). Recovery takes time. It is hard to fix such flaws quickly once they are made public [[1]](https://www.huffpost.com/entry/php-cybersecurity-flaws_n_6ada0890e4b0ba084e14ffa9). Valtori Director General Hannu Naumanen said restoring services can take days or even weeks, because systems must be carefully tested after updates [[1]](https://www.huffpost.com/entry/php-cybersecurity-flaws_n_6ada0890e4b0ba084e14ffa9). Felix Kuhlenkamp of Bitkom said many larger operators had already carried out updates, but complex IT systems and smaller organizations could take longer [[2]](https://www.insurancejournal.com/news/international/2026/10/22/889983.htm). He said that if a website runs an old PHP version with no security update, the entire system must be updated [[2]](https://www.insurancejournal.com/news/international/2026/10/22/889983.htm). ## Sources 1. [Millions Of Hacking Attempts As Companies, Governments Rush To Patch PHP Flaws](https://www.huffpost.com/entry/php-cybersecurity-flaws_n_6ada0890e4b0ba084e14ffa9) — HuffPost 2. [Millions of Hacking Attempts as Companies, Governments Rush to Patch PHP Flaws](https://www.insurancejournal.com/news/international/2026/10/22/889983.htm) — Insurance Journal 3. [Millions of hacking attempts trigger global cybersecurity alert](https://cyprus-mail.com/2026/10/22/millions-of-hacking-attempts-trigger-global-cybersecurity-alert) — Cyprus Mail Image: Photo: Walter Dendy Sadler / Wikimedia Commons, Public domain (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sadler_thursday.jpg) --- Written from the sources above and checked twice (rules and an independent model) before publishing. How we work: https://skoop.news/how-we-work/ · Corrections: https://skoop.news/corrections/