Cyberattack chances and security flaws come in many different forms. Businesses must maintain their organizations’ defenses against these attacks in order to maintain regulatory compliance as well as the security of their personnel, clients, and confidential information. A zero-day vulnerability is one of the most prevalent and challenging issues to safeguard against, but what is a zero-day vulnerability and how can it be exploited?
An attack on a system using a zero-day vulnerability is known as a zero-day exploit. These exploits are particularly risky since they have a higher chance of success than assaults on known flaws. When a vulnerability is made public on day zero, businesses do not yet have time to patch it, which makes an attack conceivable.
Once that defect, or software/hardware vulnerability, is exploited and attackers release malware before a developer has the chance to build a patch to correct the hole, it is called a “zero-day attack”—hence the name. Here are the steps of the window of vulnerability, in brief:
- Software is created by a company’s developers, who are unaware that it has a vulnerability.
- Threat actors either identify vulnerabilities before developers do or take use of them before developers have a chance to patch them.
- While the flaw is still open and accessible, the attacker creates and deploys an exploit.
- Following its release, the exploit is either identified by the general public as identity or information theft, or the developer discovers it and develops a patch to stop the cyber-bleeding.
We listed down some of the best ways that can protect you:
- Patch Management
- Vulnerability Management
- Use of Web Application Firewall (WAF)
What happens if your company is the target of a zero-day vulnerability? Learn how to defend your company against unexpected and unanticipated threats. Contact CYB3R-X today!
