Denmark activates crisis staff over PHP security flaws
Thursday 22nd October 2026 on 04:30 in
Denmark
Denmark has activated its National Operational Staff over two serious security flaws in PHP, a widely used programming language that has left websites around the world vulnerable to hacking. The Ministry of Civil Protection and Emergency Preparedness confirmed the activation to DR.
The staff is operating at its lowest readiness level, which involves increased monitoring and informing senior officials and key employees but does not require them to assemble in person. TV2 reported that the staff held a meeting on Wednesday evening.
Several websites were temporarily taken offline as a precaution on Wednesday, and companies using PHP have been urged to install updates as soon as possible. The ministry has not said that any websites have been hacked because of the flaws.
The National Operational Staff is described as the state’s highest operational forum for major incidents and crises. It can be activated at three levels, ranging from information sharing to a fully established crisis-management organisation. Previous activations have included severe weather, drone activity over airports and military installations, and a major mobile network outage.
OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, called the flaws “one of the most significant vulnerabilities in recent times.” The company says PHP is used to run 70 per cent of all websites. The security risk has been rated 9.2 out of 10 on the Common Vulnerability Scoring System, an international scale for assessing the severity of software vulnerabilities.
Emergency Preparedness Minister Lisbeth Bech-Nielsen urged companies using PHP to update their systems quickly, saying public disclosure means potential attackers also know about the flaws. Amazon Web Services said overnight that it had seen attempts to exploit the vulnerabilities both before and after they were publicly disclosed, and urged customers to install the patched versions of PHP. The Confederation of Danish Industry also told its members to apply the updates immediately.