You may have heard that a major security problem involving something called PHP recently caused websites around the world to scramble for emergency updates.
If you have a business website, what do you need to do? And what exactly is PHP, and why is it important?
What Should a Website Owner Do?
You don’t need to learn PHP. You do need to know who is responsible for maintaining it.
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- Find out which PHP version your site uses. Your hosting provider or website administrator can tell you.
- Confirm it is supported and patched. A version can be generally supported but still need an urgent security update.
- Keep your web applications updated, too. WordPress, plugins, themes, and other PHP-based software have their own, separate updates.
- Back up and test before upgrading. A managed upgrade should include compatibility checks and a way to recover if something goes wrong.
- Know who handles urgent security notices. Hosting companies and website maintenance providers may have different responsibilities; don’t assume every update happens automatically.
What is PHP?
You don’t need to be a programmer to understand the basics. PHP is one of the behind-the-scenes technologies that makes much of the web work.
If you remember BASIC, the programming language found on many early home computers, you already have a useful starting point. PHP is also a programming language, but instead of primarily running programs on your own computer, PHP commonly runs on a web server.
When someone visits a website, PHP can retrieve information from a database, assemble a page, handle a login, process a contact form, or update a shopping cart. It does this on the server and sends the resulting web page to the visitor’s browser.
Think of HTML as the instructions for displaying a page, and PHP as part of the machinery that decides what should appear on it. A customer sees the finished website, not the PHP code working behind it.
You Probably Use PHP Every Day
PHP isn’t an obscure or experimental technology. It is at the heart of some widely used web applications:
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- WordPress: Software used to publish and manage websites, from small business sites to major publications.
- WooCommerce: The popular online-store system that works within WordPress.
- Drupal and Joomla: Content management systems used for organizational and business websites.
- Adobe Commerce (Magento): An e-commerce platform used by retailers.
- MediaWiki: The software that powers Wikipedia.
- Moodle: A platform for online courses and education.
- phpBB: Software for running online discussion forums.
Major websites help illustrate its reach. Wikipedia operates on PHP-based MediaWiki. NASA has used WordPress for prominent websites, and publications such as Rolling Stone have appeared among WordPress’s showcase sites. Facebook also began with PHP, although its technology has evolved considerably over time.
These sites do not all use PHP in the same way, and a website’s technology can change. The important point is that PHP has a long track record in web publishing, commerce, and online services.
Why Does PHP Matter to Your Business?
Like your computer’s operating system, PHP is software that needs maintenance. There are three practical reasons to pay attention to it:
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- Security: Vulnerabilities are occasionally discovered in PHP, just as they are in browsers, operating systems, and other software. Security updates close known weaknesses. Unsupported PHP versions no longer receive normal security fixes.
- Performance: Modern PHP releases can process web requests more efficiently, helping a properly configured website respond faster.
- Compatibility: WordPress, plugins, themes, and other applications depend on particular PHP features. An upgrade may be necessary for newer software, but updating PHP without first checking compatibility can break older applications.
Importantly, updating WordPress is not the same thing as updating PHP. WordPress is an application built using PHP; PHP itself is typically installed and maintained through your web host or server administrator.
A Timely Example: The October 2026 “PHP2Shell” Incident
On October 21, 2026, the PHP project released emergency updates for two critical security vulnerabilities, widely discussed under the name PHP2Shell. The flaws could allow an attacker to run unauthorized code on a vulnerable web server without logging in. Some organizations temporarily took websites offline while applying fixes.
This does not mean that every PHP website was compromised, or that PHP is inherently unsafe. Rather, it illustrates why underlying website software needs prompt security maintenance, even when the site might look and behave normally to visitors.
For technical details and current guidance, see the official PHP announcements and the Dutch National Cyber Security Centre’s PHP2Shell information.
At Wild Iris Marketing, we believe business owners should understand enough about their websites to make informed decisions, while not needing to become programmers to keep them running. PHP is one of many important components that deserves routine attention, and sometimes an urgent update.
Further reading: PHP supported versions · PHP release announcements · PHP2Shell operational information
