🚨🇪🇺 BREAKING: Critical software vulnerabilities trigger government website shutdowns across at least SIX European countries, affecting public authorities, hospitals, schools and critical infrastructure. Two severe security flaws have been discovered in PHP, one of the world's most widely used server-side programming languages. The vulnerabilities could potentially allow attackers to execute malicious code on affected servers without authentication or access sensitive information, including passwords and security credentials. Confirmed disruptions across Europe: 🇩🇰 DENMARK • Danish Meteorological Institute (DMI) • Copenhagen Municipality • Danish Road Directorate • Aula, the national school communication platform 🇩🇪 GERMANY • Federal Police (Bundespolizei) • Federal Interior Ministry • Robert Koch Institute • Customs authorities • Charité university hospital • University of Potsdam 🇳🇱 NETHERLANDS • Port of Rotterdam websites • National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) • Government portals and judicial services • Political party websites • Several hospitals 🇧🇪 BELGIUM • Flemish government websites • Smartschool education platform • AZ Monica hospital in Antwerp • Media organisations 🇫🇮 FINLAND • Government ICT services • National Land Survey • Additional public-facing government websites 🇫🇷 FRANCE • Local government administrative websites temporarily shut down as a precaution 🇬🇧 UNITED KINGDOM The National Cyber Security Centre has issued an urgent warning, recommending protective measures, including temporary shutdowns where necessary. No specific government shutdown has been independently confirmed. 🇺🇸 UNITED STATES According to Reuters, the White House has been aware of the vulnerabilities since October 16. Federal authorities are now assessing whether government systems and critical infrastructure have been affected. The vulnerabilities reportedly remained undiscovered for more than a decade before being identified with the assistance of AI. Security patches have now been released, and organisations are being urged to update vulnerable installations immediately. IMPORTANT: The reported shutdowns are primarily precautionary security measures, NOT evidence that the affected organisations have been successfully hacked. There is currently no confirmed coordinated cyberattack or established state-sponsored attribution. The scale of the response highlights how vulnerabilities in widely used software can simultaneously disrupt digital public services across multiple countries.