Some Ugly Truths About Zero-Day Exploits

1. What is a zero day exploit and why are they dangerous?
2. Is it illegal to sell exploits?
3. Are zero day attacks common?
4. What is a zero day threat?
5. How much is a zero day worth?
6. Is it legal to sell malware?
7. Is Zerodium legal?
8. Why are zero day attacks so dangerous?
9. What are the 4 main types of vulnerability?
10. Why is it called a Zero Day attack?
11. How are zero day attacks discovered?
12. Who is zero day watch dogs?
13. What is the meaning of zero day?

What is a zero day exploit and why are they dangerous?

Zero-Day Exploits Defined

“Zero-day” is a loose term for a recently discovered vulnerability or exploit for a vulnerability that hackers can use to attack systems. These threats are incredibly dangerous because only the attacker is aware of their existence.

Is it illegal to sell exploits?

It's also not illegal to find an exploit and 'sell' it to back to the software company as part of a bug bounty offering. Theoretically, if these same companies were willing to pay more, they could purchase the same 0 days.

Are zero day attacks common?

It is possible that malicious actors create exploits and wait to use them strategically. In this case, even though the attacker knows the exploit, it is still not known publicly, and is still considered a zero-day exploit. According to the Ponemon Institute, 80% of successful breaches were Zero-Day attacks.

What is a zero day threat?

A zero-day threat (also sometimes called a zero-hour threat) is one that hasn't been seen before and doesn't match any known malware signatures.

How much is a zero day worth?

ZERODIUM payouts for eligible zero-day exploits range from $2,500 to $2,500,000 per submission.

Is it legal to sell malware?

Malware is not illegal to create, but I think it is, or it should be, illegal to distribute in any form. I think you can think of malware as a grenade, when it comes to selling. You can't sell a grenade because if the pin is removed, even by accident, it can do lots of harm.

Is Zerodium legal?

There are companies like Zerodium (Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zerodium) that buy "functional exploits" and sell them to "corporate and government clients". ... Apparently the government is also buying the exploits from them, but that doesn't make it legal anyway.

Why are zero day attacks so dangerous?

On the first day, any bug or vulnerability in an online or offline software is not yet fixed by its company or developer. So, zero-day exploits guarantee a high probability of a successful attack for attackers. That's the reason zero-day exploits are very dangerous for the target individual or organization.

What are the 4 main types of vulnerability?

The different types of vulnerability

In the table below four different types of vulnerability have been identified, Human-social, Physical, Economic and Environmental and their associated direct and indirect losses. The table gives examples of types of losses.

Why is it called a Zero Day attack?

A zero-day attack is a software-related attack that exploits a weakness that a vendor or developer was unaware of. The name comes from the number of days a software developer has known about the problem. The solution to fixing a zero-day attack is known as a software patch.

How are zero day attacks discovered?

But the general definition describes zero-day attacks (or zero-day exploits) as attacks that target publicly known but still unpatched vulnerabilities. ... Software vulnerabilities may be discovered by hackers, by security companies or researchers, by the software vendors themselves, or by users.

Who is zero day watch dogs?

Zero-Day is a terrorist and hacker group in direct competition with the prominent hacker group DedSec and is accredited with framing DedSec for a major terrorist attack shown in the prologue of Watch Dogs: Legion.

What is the meaning of zero day?

A zero-day (also known as 0-day) is a computer-software vulnerability unknown to those who should be interested in its mitigation (including the vendor of the target software). ... An exploit directed at a zero-day is called a zero-day exploit, or zero-day attack.