UK companies could face fines for failing to patch Log4j vulnerability

A security flaw discovered in December 2021 makes private data vulnerable to hackers – and the UK government could take action against firms that fail to fix it

By Matthew Sparkes

UK firms could face government fines if they fail to patch the Log4j computer vulnerability, even if they haven’t had data breaches, authorities have confirmed to New Scientist.

A security flaw discovered in December 2021 in a piece of software called Log4j saw a global rush to patch the code and prevent hackers accessing private data. The software is used by millions of web servers, and while many have now been patched there will be others that weren’t, because it requires …