Cybersecurity expert reveals three things everyone must do after website flaw increases chance of hackers

A cybersecurity expert has revealed the three things that everyone could do to protect themselves from hackers online after website flaws caused internet chaos.

Users had been warned about the issue which was described as the 'most severe vulnerabilities ever discovered' by AI.

On Thursday (22 October), thirty-two UK Government services were plunged offline while work was carried out to address cybersecurity issues.

It affected organisations globally who scrambled to fix the critical security flaw in the programming language PHP used by the majority of websites.

PHP, used internationally since the 2000s to build websites, is estimated to power more than 75 percent of all websites on the internet.

Uncovered by OpenAI, the server outage could impact millions of sites across major platforms and social media. Site operators were urged to install a new emergency fix or consider taking their platforms offline.

Greg Brockman, the president of OpenAI, said in an X post that hackers could exploit the vulnerability to steal private user data or modify websites.

The PHP security issue identified could allow attackers to remotely control any web servers running it.

Cybersecurity expert says criminals can 'take over website servers'

Now a cybersecurity expert has explained exactly what this means for every day internet users, and the clear steps people can take to protect themselves.

Niall Pritchard, founder of Secure Select, an IT company looking after small UK businesses and their websites said the PHP flaw could let criminals 'take control of website servers without a password'.

Discussing if people are at risk, Niall explained: "PHP is the engine behind a huge share of the websites people use every day.

"This flaw lets a criminal take control of a website's server without needing a password. Cloudflare's boss says they saw millions of attempts by the evening of 21 October.

"So the risk is real, but it sits with websites that have not updated yet. Your phone and laptop are not the target, and you do not need to update them because of this.

"If a site you use was hacked before it patched, anything that site holds about you could be exposed, your email, your password, your address.

"A website going offline for a few hours this week usually means the owners are fixing it properly. That is good news, not a sign you have been hacked."

Three clear tips for internet users

There are three clear things that people can do to make sure their data is protected from potential hackers exposing the threat.

This includes changing passwords depending on the platform, using two-step verification and preparing for scam emails.

"Use a different password for every site, ideally kept in a password manager," Niall explained. "If one site leaks, the criminals cannot use your password anywhere else.

"Switch on two-step verification, starting with your email account, because whoever controls your email can reset everything else.

"Expect scam emails about this. Criminals love a big news story.

"If an email says 'your account was affected, reset your password here', do not click it. Go to the website yourself."