Zero-day vulnerabilities, characterized by the exploitation of undisclosed vulnerabilities, are a continuing threat to cybersecurity. This type of attack happens before developers get the chance to mitigate and patch vulnerabilities. Leaving businesses and users vulnerable to exploitation.
What makes zero-day attacks particularly dangerous is not only their eventuality for widespread damage but also their nature for secretive execution. The cyber criminals who are responsible for Zero-day attacks are usually motivated by the pursuit of financial gain or by hacktivists advocating for political and social causes.
As you keep reading this article, you will explore in detail what are zero-day attacks, and ways to detect and prevent them.
A zero-day attack is carried out by malicious cyber criminals who exploit a publicly unknown vulnerability in hardware, software or firmware. The term “zero-day” means that the vendors and developers have had zero days to identify and patch the vulnerability. As attackers are already using it to compromise vulnerable systems.
2021: Google Chrome
In 2021, it was discovered that Google's browser, Chrome, had several vulnerabilities. These vulnerabilities were caused by flaws in the V8 JavaScript engine, a core part of the browser.
2020: Zoom
A critical vulnerability was discovered in the widely-used video conferencing service, Zoom. This exploit enabled hackers to remotely take control of a user's PC, especially targeting systems running older versions of Windows. It was able to create full desktop access with the fully exploited vulnerability on target systems where the victim was an administrator.
2020: Apple iOS
Apple's iOS was also affected by zero-day vulnerabilities in 2020. At least two different sets of iOS zero-day bugs surfaced, including one that remotely compromised iPhones.
2019: Microsoft Windows in Eastern Europe
Governmental institutions in Eastern Europe were targeted by a zero-day attack that exploited local privilege escalation vulnerabilities in Microsoft Windows. This exploit allowed attackers to execute arbitrary code, install applications, and gain access and modification capabilities to data on compromised systems. Microsoft quickly reacted by developing and releasing patches.
2017: Microsoft Word
A zero-day exploit was spread with the use of malicious Word documents that compromised personal banking information. The victims accidentally launched the exploit by opening a corrupted Word file, which caused malware to be installed to steal banking credentials.
Stuxnet
One of the most notorious zero-day attacks is Stuxnet, which was first discovered in 2010, but its origins are traced back to 2005. This advanced worm targeted manufacturing computers running Siemens Step7 software, most notably used in Iran's uranium enrichment facilities. Stuxnet exploited vulnerabilities in PLCs to send unauthorized commands, which disrupted the nuclear program.
Zero-day vulnerabilities are hard to deal with, as they are unknown and thus not patched. That is, the vulnerabilities are unknown; hence they are not part of cybersecurity risk management or vulnerability mitigation strategies.
That said, organizations can do a lot to make zero-day vulnerabilities a little more discoverable and to reduce their impact.
1. Patch Management: Even though vendors patch zero-day vulnerabilities quickly, many companies have poor patch management. A formal patch management program helps security teams stay up-to-date with critical patches, putting them in a much better position to handle zero-day attacks and their consequences.
2. Vulnerability Management: Performing an entire set of vulnerability scans and penetration tests will help a company discover zero-day vulnerabilities within its systems before the bad actors do.
4. Threat Intelligence Feeds: Security researchers are often the first to discover zero-day vulnerabilities. But companies with external threat intelligence sources are better prepared to learn about new zero-day vulnerabilities.
5. Anomaly-based Detection Methods: Zero-day malware tends to bypass signature-based detection techniques. Instead, solutions that use machine learning to discover bad behaviors in real time will tend to be used to intercept zero-day attacks. Examples include UEBA, XDR platforms, EDR solutions, and select IDS/IPS.
In summary, zero-day attacks can be devastating, from operating systems to the Internet of Things. Luckily, There are some proactive ways organizations can take to reduce the impact of zero-day vulnerabilities, such as robust patch management programs, comprehensive vulnerability assessments, and others. Therefore, critical assets can be protected and potential damages reduced.
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