Malicious actors are always looking to exploit different vulnerabilities in different systems. They do this for different reasons, the most common being to hold data ransom or for notoriety. While they can go after many types of vulnerabilities, zero-day exploits are particularly highly sought-after. In this article, we will explore what these exploits are, why they are so dangerous, and what you can do to protect yourself from them.
What are Zero-day Exploits?
These are cyberattacks targeting vulnerabilities in software and applications that have not yet been discovered by an antivirus or software vendor. Attackers rely on the fact that no one knows about these vulnerabilities to take advantage of them as much as possible before they are patched. Once they find them, they create exploits and use them for attacks.
Such attacks have a very high success rate because no one has created measures to deal with them yet. After all, the affected party does not know they exist. For this reason, zero-day attacks and exploits can be some of the most devastating attacks organizations can face.
It is important to mention that zero-day malware exists. This is malware whose signature is unknown or unavailable. Without the signature being known, anti-malware software cannot detect this type of malicious software, so it remains active until the party notices or it acts in some way, such as compromising systems and hardware.
When Do Zero-day Exploits Appear?
Software can have a zero-day vulnerability when it is created, released, or updated. A developer can introduce a vulnerability during the development process and not notice it. They might also be tasked with updating a legacy but otherwise secure application or software. If they do not understand it completely or have the required skills, they can introduce a vulnerability that malicious actors can then latch onto and use to do a lot of damage.
In ideal situations, software developers and security researchers find these vulnerabilities before malicious actors do. However, these actors can discover the vulnerabilities first because looking for and trying to exploit them is all they do.
Once discovered, these vulnerabilities become public knowledge and a race starts. The software developer or vendor has to notify their customers that the vulnerability exists so they can take the required precautions and start trying to fix the issue.
On the other end of the spectrum, malicious actors tell others about the vulnerability and they all work toward exploiting it as quickly and as much as they can before the developer or vendor fixes it.
A typical problem that arises is an organization not making the vulnerability known to the public. There are legitimate reasons for doing this, but it is a gamble. Organizations that do this hope that they can fix or patch the issue before hackers become aware of it. However, they take the risk that malicious actors do not learn about it and exploit it before they can fix it.
The good news is that zero-day vulnerabilities and exploits do not work for too long. Because researchers can see what the hackers are doing to try to exploit whatever weaknesses they find, they can pinpoint the issue and patch it quickly before these actors have time to do much damage.
The Market for Zero-Day Vulnerabilities
Zero-day vulnerabilities and exploits are valuable to different parties for different reasons. Because of this, there is a market for them, with some estimates saying hackers typically demand an average of $500,000 for them.
In addition to selling these exploits to other hackers on the dark web, malicious actors can leverage them for a payout from organizations. They can do this by telling the organizations they know about the zero-day vulnerabilities and how to fix them. However, they can only do so for a price.
The second way is through ransomware. Because many of these vulnerabilities give malicious actors access to crucial systems, they might infect them with ransomware that demands a specific amount to remove the malware and tell the organization about the vulnerability. Depending on how crucial the attacked system is, the ransomware can range from a few hundred thousand to millions of dollars.
Preventing Zero-day Attacks
Security researchers and cybersecurity teams are often at a disadvantage because they do not have fixes for zero-day attacks when they become aware of them. This means protecting themselves without knowing what threats exist is always best. For this, organizations can start by implementing solutions like Web Application and API Protection (WAAP). These can protect against unpatched vulnerabilities, minimizing exposure to malicious attacks.
Another crucial strategy is patch management. Software developers and vendors are always pushing patches for their software. Organizations should apply these patches as soon as they are available. Doing so makes them proactive instead of reactive and ensures they can stay ahead of these attacks.
Testing and Assessments
No company wants to hear that the software they are using has security vulnerabilities. However, it is better to know and fix these issues than to stay oblivious to them. This is what penetration tests and vulnerability assessments help with.
Security researchers and cybersecurity experts can try to break into a given software in different ways to find out if it has any vulnerabilities. By doing this, they can help organizations discover any zero-day vulnerabilities that may exist before malicious actors do.
Using Attack Surface Management Tools
Organizations should also use attack surface management tools to assess their networks and check them for vulnerabilities. These tools help businesses and organizations assess all their assets from a hacker’s perspective. By doing so, they can find out how malicious actors may try to attack their systems.
Using Zero-trust Architecture
Zero trust architecture designs rely on least privilege access and continuous authentication to limit and control access to different parts of a system. With these implementations in place, organizations can minimize the damage a malicious actor can do if they gain access to a system.
Zero-day attacks are damaging because the organization under attack might not know they are before it is too late. It is crucial, therefore, that all organizations understand these vulnerabilities and how to protect themselves. It might take additional resources to do so, but it is better to expend these resources than suffer the losses associated with a security breach.