There is nothing difficult to understand about what an attack is, but a zero-day attack might be something you are unfamiliar with. A zero-day attack is a cyber attack that infiltrates devices and servers through unseen weaknesses in newer software and software updates. More specifically, when a company updates any server, electronic device or computer system, there is a risk of potential breaches in vulnerable areas within the update. In the past, these type of attacks exploited products from large corporations — such as Java, Window XP, Adobe Flash and more.
If this is your first time learning about a zero-day attack, you might have a new fear that hackers are the only ones who will recognize these weaknesses! However, reliable cybersecurity companies, among others, work hard to discover any of these vulnerabilities after there are any new software updates. Software developers are also aware of the potential threat of attackers and continue to improve their software even after they release the latest update. Hiring a cybersecurity company with SIEM solutions should alleviate the stress of these attacks.
Now that you can relax a little bit, there is more that you can learn about.
Attackers take advantage of these situations by being aware of publicly known updates and trying to penetrate a specific system right after a company makes that update. Attackers will continue to pry at potential vulnerabilities, but developers and researchers will also try to discover any vulnerabilities and provide the needed solution; if they find and resolve a problem, they can make their software full-proof.
The threat of a zero-day attack remains until these vulnerabilities are found by developers. If a hacker finds a vulnerability before anyone else, their attack is known as a zero-day attack because they are making a new breach in the software before any of the developers discover a problem. What it all comes down to with these attacks is who finds the vulnerability first. If the hackers find it first, it remains a zero-day attack — no matter how many days pass — until the problem is discovered.
Right alongside the developers and researchers, cybersecurity companies want to ensure that there are no zero-day threats within the system or servers of the companies they protect. But what do they do to ensure that hackers are not making zero-day attacks? They are essentially working to detect any breaches and also beat hackers to the punch.
Apart of our Endpoint Defense Service, we, Vektor, provide companies with advanced threat protection for attacks like this. Not only do we create a list of hosts that contain vulnerable software but we also perform file analysis and sandboxing in order to help clients analyze and test malware behavior in order to discover these zero-day threats. Again, you should not worry too much, especially if you have hired a competent cybersecurity company like Vektor.
Attackers do not always know that there might be a shortcoming within a software update and will have to discover that before the developers, researchers or cybersecurity teams. As with all things cybersecurity and cyberattacks, zero-day attacks is just another tactic hackers try to take advantage of and something cybersecurity companies try to prevent — the digital battle rages on. Be sure your company is protected against the likes of zero-day attacks and turn to the SIEM solutions and services of Vektor.