‘No indications’ PHP code flaw has led to government systems being hacked, cyber security official says – as it happened

Ollie Whitehouse, chief technology officer at the UK’s National Cyber Security Centre , told Radio 4’s the World at One that incidents like today’s computer system shutdowns because of a coding problem were likely to re-occur. He explained:

double quotation mark [This] highlights to a lot of organisations that technology is not a one-time purchase now, that it needs that continuous investment throughout its operational lifetime.

We’re in an era now of digital dependency, coupled with heightened cyber threat, coupled with increasing capability, which means all organisations are going to likely have to revisit their risk assumptions and work out how they are able to invest in technology to be able to meet the contemporary era.

Whitehouse said there were “no indications” that the PHP flaw now being fixed had been successfully exploited by hackers.

He also said that the problem that had led to 32 government websites being temporarily shut down (see 12.54pm ) was originally identified months ago. He said the NCSC had been conducting a “coordinated disclosure process” to warn organisations of the vulnerability, until a leak meant that the process had to be accelerated.