A critical coding language vulnerability is taking websites offline over hack fears - Global News

Organisations that cannot quickly patch two critical flaws in PHP should consider taking their websites offline, the EU’s cybersecurity response team has warned. PHP powers a large share of the web. The PHP project will release fixes at 14:00 UTC on Wednesday, October 21. CERT-EU, which protects the EU’s institutions and bodies, issued the advice in an advisory published Tuesday evening. The Australian Cyber Security Centre (ACSC) issued similar guidance.

Autonomous agents are the hottest thing in AI. OpenAI, Meta, Google, Instinct, and others promise their agents can scour the internet on your behalf, doing anything from booking a dinner reservation and cleaning out your inbox to buying new shoes. But what happens when the rest of the internet won’t play nice? In recent weeks, users of services like Meta’s Muse, xAI’s Grok, OpenAI’s Dots, and Instinct have reported blocks preventing their AI agents from performing tasks across top websites. Yelp told TechCrunch that it only allows AI agents that pay for its data licensing program, while Delta Air Lines is preventing them from booking tickets on behalf of users. JPMorgan Chase and Charles Schwab have also confirmed that they’re blocking AI agents from accessing accounts due to security concerns. Some users say sites that previously worked with their AI agent are no longer accessible, including Cars.com and Amtrak, suggesting other companies could be quietly blocking them. Amazon was already fighting off AI agents last year when it banned Perplexity’s agentic shopping feature and sued the AI startup, raising legal and practical questions about the future of agents on the web.