PHP2Shell Put Millions of Websites on Alert – and Fortinet in Focus
Why faster vulnerability discovery could make cybersecurity spending much more urgent
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Last week, for operators of affected websites, the choice was terrible. Either take the site offline, cutting off customers and business, or leave it running with a flaw that could let an attacker take over the server without the need for a password.
The NSA recommended taking affected systems offline if they couldn’t be updated or otherwise secured right away. And many organizations did just that.
Imagine making that decision for your business. Keep the heart of your business running and risk exposing your systems or take it down and risk losing customers.
Before the vulnerability became widely known, a repair was scheduled for Thursday, Oct. 22. But two days before the scheduled fix, word began spreading online about dangerous flaws in PHP, a programming language used to run roughly 70% of websites across the internet.
The PHP team brought the release forward to Wednesday. Suddenly, the companies preparing easy-to-install updates had one less day to finish.
After the accelerated release was announced, a security firm mistakenly published a demonstration video, revealing additional clues. And even after the original was deleted, copies kept circulating. By Wednesday, purported exploits for the vulnerabilities, dubbed “PHP2Shell,” were circulating, though the PHP team said it had not identified a working public exploit at the time of release.
The pressure was mounting: Every hour online meant more exposure. Every hour offline meant more disruption.
Finding the Flaw Was Only Half the Job
Enter Ondřej Surý, a volunteer maintainer in Czechia.
The PHP project had notified him earlier that week; now he, too, had one less day to prepare. But a fix couldn’t protect their servers until it reached them in a form they could use. Surý’s role was to turn the repair into updates that website operators could quickly install.
When the dust settled, his work earned him an extraordinary description from The Atlantic: “The Man Who Saved the Internet Yesterday.”
Now consider what helped bring this emergency to light in the first place.
Artificial intelligence.
OpenAI says researchers at security firm Calif used its AI to uncover the PHP flaw. While researchers at Google’s Wiz independently found and reported the vulnerabilities known as PHP2Shell.
Now imagine attackers using AI to find and exploit a vulnerability before defenders can fix it – cutting power across several cities, shutting down multiple ports, or disrupting communications at military bases.
I’ve spent years looking for companies that will benefit as AI gets smarter. Last week reminded me that some of those companies will make their money helping protect the rest of us.
Today, I want to show you one cybersecurity company worth considering. Then I’ll explain why I think the opportunity goes well beyond keeping websites online.
AI Is Making Cybersecurity Problems More Urgent
AI can help researchers find weaknesses in software. It can also help criminals figure out how to break in. OpenAI warned about both sides of that problem when it explained what happened with PHP.
For businesses, that could mean spending money sooner than they planned.
A business may have software that has worked for years. Employees know how to use it. Customers depend on it. Replacing it would cost money, take time, and risk interrupting operations.
So the business keeps it running.
Then someone finds a weakness, and fixing it becomes a priority. The company has to find every computer using that software and update it without stopping employees from doing their jobs.
AI can help find the problem. People still have to get it fixed.
As these weaknesses become easier to find, companies need to get faster at dealing with them. They need to know which computers and programs are at risk, spot signs of a break-in, and stop an attacker from reaching more of the business. And their security teams need tools they can actually use.
I think AI will move more of that work from “we’ll get to it” to “we need to pay for this now.”
The companies getting that money will have to earn it. AI will make some security work cheaper by doing it automatically. But businesses will still pay for tools that keep them safer and make life easier for their employees.
That’s where I’m looking.
Fortinet: An AI Cybersecurity Stock Worth Watching
Fortinet Inc. (FTNT) is one of the cybersecurity stocks we’re looking at closely after the PHP threat.
Fortinet helps businesses protect their computers and the connections between them. Its tools can block unwanted traffic and help keep people from breaking in. It also protects the computers used to run factory equipment and other machinery.
That capability was already being put to work against PHP2Shell. Fortinet had released protections designed to detect and block known exploitation attempts while customers worked to install the permanent fix.
Here’s what interests me about that business.
Think about a company with offices, factories, employees working from home, and programs they use over the internet. All of that needs protection. Using a separate security tool for each part can leave employees with a complicated job.
Fortinet brings many of those tools together. That lets a business manage more of its security in one place.
And this is already a substantial, profitable business.
In the third quarter of 2026, Fortinet reported $2.08 billion in revenue, up 20% from a year earlier. Product revenue grew 37% year over year to $765 million. And after paying its operating expenses, it kept about 34 cents of every revenue dollar as operating profit.
Those results give us a way to judge the opportunity. Are customers still spending? Are sales growing? Can Fortinet keep making strong profits while improving its products?
We still have to be careful about what we pay for the stock. Fortinet has competitors, and it has to keep delivering for customers. I’d weigh the share price against its sales, profits, and prospects before buying.
But it’s worth a closer look. Fortinet already helps businesses deal with problems that AI could make more urgent.
And its work with factories and other industrial customers points to a bigger opportunity.
AI Cybersecurity Risk Extends Into Critical Infrastructure
Think about what happens when a hacker breaks into the computers used by a factory or a power company.
Those computers may help run machinery, check equipment, or keep an essential service working. If they stop working properly, production could stop, too. The damage can reach far beyond a website that won’t load.
That’s why I think investors should look at the wider need for protection.
The NSA’s involvement in the PHP response helps explain why this matters to the country. The agency warned about risks to government and national security computers, as well as other affected systems.
The U.S. and its allies need better protection against hackers. They also need stronger defenses against physical attacks.
Consider what it takes to protect a power plant from both a hacker and a drone that can fly without someone steering it.
You need to secure the computers. You also need equipment that can spot and stop the drone. And designing that equipment is only the start. Someone has to make the parts, build the finished product, test it, and deliver enough of it to do the job.
As AI moves into more machines and equipment, investors have more businesses to consider.
Who can build what’s needed? Who can supply parts that work reliably? Which factories need to grow before customers can buy enough of the new equipment?
The answers lead us to manufacturers, materials producers, and the companies supplying them. And that’s where another big wave of spending could begin.
Follow the Spending Beyond the Screen
Last week, Ondřej Surý became known as “the man who saved the internet.” But he had spent years doing the work that made his response possible. The emergency simply revealed how much depended on someone most people had never heard of.
It also revealed how quickly a problem can become impossible to postpone. America now faces this challenge on a wide scale as new technology changes what it takes to defend the country.
Now consider the stakes when the threat reaches a power plant, a port, or a military base.
As AI moves into drones and other machines, the potential damage becomes physical. Equipment can be destroyed. Essential services can be interrupted. Lives can be lost.
Meeting those threats requires better technology; and the factories, materials, and workers to build it.
The response is already drawing investment. But developing better technology is only part of the job. Someone has to supply the materials, manufacture the components, and turn a promising design into equipment that can be deployed.
That’s why I’m paying attention to where the money is moving right now.
I want you to understand where it could go next… and which businesses could benefit.
In July, government, technology, finance, and military leaders gathered at the U.S. Army War College for the Pennsylvania Defense and Innovation Summit.
Sen. Dave McCormick’s office reported more than $10 billion in new investment commitments. The announcements covered shipbuilding, ammunition and weapons, and newer technologies such as AI and robotics.
Those commitments still have to turn into completed projects. But they give investors a concrete reason to start looking now.
Every new production line needs equipment. Every manufacturer needs parts and materials. And when customers move from testing a few products to ordering hundreds or thousands, the companies supplying them can become much more important.
That’s the opportunity I’ve been researching as America strengthens its defenses.
Some of those businesses remain unfamiliar to most investors. But as defense spending reaches their factories and order books, that will change.
The time to study these businesses is while their opportunity is taking shape.
Fortinet gives you one company to consider for protecting computer systems. My latest briefing takes you further, into the businesses that could help America prepare for threats in the physical world.
Wait until a company’s new orders and expanding factories are obvious to everyone, and its share price may already reflect much of that growth.
Watch that briefing now to discover the companies supplying America’s defense buildout and learn what makes them worth your attention as an investor.
