STATEMENT: Gottheimer Statement on Widespread Cybersecurity Vulnerabilities

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, Thursday, October 22, 2026, U.S. Congressman Josh Gottheimer (NJ-5) released the following statement:

“Artificial intelligence just uncovered critical flaws in PHP, the code behind roughly seventy percent of the world’s websites. Governments around the world, along with countless businesses, have pulled sites offline until patches are in place. Thankfully, researchers found these vulnerabilities and worked with developers on a fix before they were made public.

This is exactly what AI should be doing: helping us find and fix weaknesses before bad actors can exploit them. But we can’t let our guard down. The same speed that helps defenders find these flaws can help hackers and hostile foreign adversaries exploit them, and reports that attackers are already doing so show just how narrow that window is. I urge every business, school, and local government in North Jersey to patch their systems now.

That’s why we need clear guardrails, including mandatory pre-deployment testing of the most powerful AI models, so these tools strengthen our defenses rather than threaten our critical infrastructure, our economy, or our national security.”

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