Security risk prompts Ticino to disable several online services

The Ticino cantonal administration has temporarily disabled several online services for security reasons. The decision was announced this evening from Bellinzona by the Department of Finance and the Economy, which stressed that the measure was taken solely as a precaution and on a temporary basis.

The measure follows a warning issued today by the Federal Office for Cybersecurity (FOCS), the competent Swiss authority in this area. The office identified two critical vulnerabilities in PHP, a programming language widely used both nationally and internationally to run websites and online services. According to the FOCS, the two flaws could allow an attacker to execute malicious code on affected servers without needing to authenticate beforehand.

Updates recommended as a matter of urgency

Security updates to fix the two vulnerabilities are already available. The FOCS therefore recommends that all IT system managers install them as soon as possible, without waiting for further confirmation. The federal office also points out that checks should not be limited to web servers alone: applications and devices that integrate PHP as an internal component must also be checked, as they could be equally exposed to the risk.

The scale of the problem is confirmed by the assessment of the German Federal Office for Information Security (BSI). The German authority classified the risk linked to these vulnerabilities at level «3 / Orange», which, according to its own rating scale, corresponds to a threat described as extremely high.

In Ticino, the cantonal administration has not specified which online services were suspended, nor how many citizens or offices are affected. The statement also does not give a date for their restoration: it merely reiterates that the shutdown is temporary and concerns only the systems considered at risk, pending the necessary fixes.

«I servizi saranno riattivati non appena saranno state applicate le misure necessarie» (the services will be reactivated as soon as the necessary measures have been applied), the Canton assured.