How to protect your information from PHP hackers: Internet security experts

If you’re still using the same password for everything, it might finally be time to start using it.

While the major cybersecurity flaw that the OpenAI agency helped expose on Wednesday primarily affects website owners and operators, it could also provide hackers with an opportunity to hijack personal information, researchers said.

Changpeng Zhao, co-founder of cryptocurrency platform Binance, said on X: “Be extremely careful when visiting any website in the next few days.”

OpenAI said on Wednesday that researchers using its artificial intelligence models discovered two “critical” flaws in the infrastructure of PHP, a popular open source programming language used by about 70% of the world’s websites.

For example, because a digital commerce website can store personal shopper information in a PHP system, a bad actor could exploit the network provider’s system to access the information if the provider has not updated it.

The National Security Agency warned that hackers using one of the PHP vulnerabilities could “steal sensitive data, disrupt services, or penetrate deep into the network.”

“Even if you don’t build the software yourself, and it’s not your core business, a large part of your life does depend on companies that rely on these systems,” Madeline Lawrence, co-founder of application security platform Aikido Security, told Business Insider on Thursday.

“They can be very, very vulnerable,” she added. She said that one day after the information was disclosed, the network security platform Cloudflare reported millions of attempts to exploit the vulnerability.

If you do have a website, PHP has released an update that it says will help protect your site from hackers. Instructions for applying these updates are available on the PHP homepage.

For everyone else, cybersecurity researchers suggest you can use some of the following tips to protect your information.

• Don’t reuse passwords; use a password manager.
• Check your bank’s security recommendations.
• Use two-factor authentication on your devices and accounts – especially for email, banking and password managers.
• If your data has been compromised, expect more convincing scams and phishing emails.
• Turn on automatic updates and restart your computer every week.

“You can ask your Cloud code to review what content on your laptop is out of date and needs updating,” added Peter Wildeford, policy director at the Artificial Intelligence Policy Network, a bipartisan nonprofit that advocates for safety guardrails and federal oversight, in a post on X.

While Lawrence called the breach “very serious,” she warned people not to close their bank accounts to protect themselves.

“Suppose you receive a notification that your information has been compromised,” she said. “Take action on this as you may have credentials or information circulating on the dark web.”