As a critical security vulnerability has been discovered in PHP, a programming language that powers about 70 percent of websites worldwide, online operations for the Japanese government and major corporations are experiencing massive disruptions.

While the programming language is widely used for websites globally, about half of all Japanese-language websites are built on WordPress, a representative website creation tool that uses PHP. This is analyzed as the reason why Japan is suffering particularly severe confusion from this crisis.

Japan's Information-Technology Promotion Agency immediately urged website operators to take prompt action, and Prime Minister Takaichi Sanae also repeatedly emphasized the urgent preparation of countermeasures and the application of security patches through her personal social media.

Prime Minister Takaichi's official website also temporarily suspended access and resumed operations only after completing inspections.

Emergency measures by government ministries and local governments continued.

The Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, and the National Tax Agency temporarily suspended some website functions for emergency inspections, and local governments such as Osaka Prefecture and Fukuoka Prefecture also halted the operation of some services.

The driver's license renewal reservation site of the Kanagawa Prefectural Police and the Japan Meteorological Agency's past weather data viewing service were also blocked at one point.

Inconvenience for users in the private sector also poured in.

MUFG Bank, one of Japan's major banks, suspended opening investment trust accounts via internet banking, and Mizuho Bank and Daiwa Securities also temporarily suspended web services such as branch visit reservations and account openings.

E-commerce company Rakuten, airline reservation site Skymark, and real estate brokerage site Suumo also entered emergency inspections.

JR West suspended the operation of about 60 websites within the group, including Hankyu Railway and Hanshin Electric Railway, blocking access to services such as checking train operation information and timetable lookups.

Japanese government spokesperson Chief Cabinet Secretary Kihara Minoru stated that no direct reports of damage have been received so far, while urging operators of PHP-using sites to immediately apply correction programs or temporarily suspend services.