Some web hosts have banned the use of phpBB, citing ongoing security problems. Hackers often seek out vulnerabilities in forum software, which typically offers many fields that all must check input to detect malicious code.

PHP, an open source server-side scripting language, is widely used to power web applications that connect with databases such as MySQL, and is commonly bunded with shared hosting accounts offered by web hosting providers. phpBB is among the web’s most popular bulletin board programs, with more than 224,000 registered members of its user forum. A number of web hosts offer phpBB as an account add-on that can easily be installed by users.