Wiz CTO on Two Critical PHP Flaws and the AI-Driven Vulnerability Wave

Two critical vulnerabilities in the open source programming language PHP, which runs roughly 70% of websites, sent organizations scrambling to repair their systems last week. Some took sites offline until the flaws could be patched. The researchers who found the bugs say this is only the beginning, because artificial intelligence is speeding up how quickly new vulnerabilities can be discovered and exploited.

The topic is covered in an episode of TechCrunch's Equity podcast, where host Rebecca Bellan speaks with Tomer Schwartz. Schwartz is CTO of Exposure Management and AppSec (application security) at Wiz, a cybersecurity company owned by Google. He took part in the effort to fix the bugs alongside OpenAI, the research group Calif and the PHP team.

What the episode covers

The conversation looks at how the race to fix the flaws appeared from the inside. It also addresses how early-stage startups can build their products with security in mind, and why patching by hand will not scale if new vulnerabilities are found and exploited ever faster.

The source text is only a description of the episode, so further details about the vulnerabilities themselves, their technical characteristics or the content of the fixes are not available.

Where to listen

Equity is available on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Spotify and other podcast platforms. The show can also be followed on X and Threads at @EquityPod.

According to the researchers, the surge of PHP flaws marks the start of a period in which AI makes it quicker to find and exploit previously unknown security weaknesses. That suggests organizations will need more automated ways to keep their software secure.