From online forums to gaming services, operators are taking sites offline while they install emergency PHP security updates.

By

Olivia Tauber

Olivia Tauber

Deputy Digital Culture Editor

Olivia Tauber is the deputy editor of digital culture, covering creators, media, movies, beauty, and more. Based in New York, her work has appeared in The New York Times, Vanity Fair, The Cut, Teen Vogue, Complex, and Interview Magazine. She holds a Master's degree in Journalism from NYU and a Bachelor's from the University of Michigan. She also runs Fan Mail, a weekly pop-culture newsletter.

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on October 21, 2026

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If some of your usual websites aren’t working today, their operators may have temporarily shut them down to keep hackers out.

Two serious security flaws have been discovered in PHP , a programming language that helps websites run.…