Belgium takes government websites offline as precaution over PHP vulnerabilities

By Seyma Erkul Dayanc

ISTANBUL (AA) - Several major Belgian websites, including government services, were taken offline Wednesday as a precaution after warnings about critical vulnerabilities in PHP, a widely used programming language, The Brussels Times reported.

“The Centre for Cybersecurity Belgium (CCB) has recorded no attacks on Belgian websites,” the Foreign Ministry said on US social media company X.

It said it had temporarily taken its websites offline following reports of cyberattacks exploiting the vulnerability.

The ministry added that it would provide updates.

Websites affected include the Smartschool education platform, sites operated by media groups Roularta and DPG Media, and Antwerp hospital AZ Monica.

Websites operated by the Flemish government were also taken offline as a precaution.

The vulnerabilities could allow attackers to execute code remotely on affected servers, raising concerns about the security of websites using vulnerable PHP versions.

PHP is widely used to build and operate websites, including those running on WordPress.

Security authorities have urged operators to install updates as soon as they become available.

The Centre for Cybersecurity Belgium has informed potentially affected organizations and advised them to apply the security updates promptly.

Şeyma Erkul Dayanç