Flaw in PHP computer language leads to shutdown of websites around world

The PHP Foundation has released a patch for the flaw but it may take time for vulnerable sites to use it to shore up their defences. Photograph: ANP/Shutterstock

Websites around the globe have gone dark after a serious vulnerability was found in a computer language used to build much of the world wide web.

Belgian, Dutch, Finnish, French and German sites were among those that governments took down temporarily as they scrambled to patch the critical weakness in PHP, a language used by almost 70% of websites.