PHP cyber threat rocks internet as government and companies scramble to fend off attacks

A cyber threat identified by tech researchers has left government bodies and multinationals as large as Amazon scrambling to build defences and stop hundreds of hacking attacks. The UK government announced that dozens of services had gone offline as a precautionary measure to fend off cyber threats exposed by vulnerabilities in programming languages. The Office for Budget Responsibility, which is in the process of preparing its crucial fiscal report for the Budget next week, was among those to announce late on Wednesday night that it had taken its website offline following advice from the National Cyber Security Centre. It was back up on Thursday and the body said the Budget had not been compromised by security issues . Scottish Parliament, the Food Standards Agency, Environment Agency, Competition and Markets Authority and Gambling Commission also had websites taken down. Baroness Lloyd of Effra, a digital minister, said a number of government services had been taken d