The attack that exploits the serious software security weakness to which the developer is unaware. It is also referring as Day Zero. It is a flaw at its core. Zero-day exploitation is an unknown exploit and can create complicated problems for the software or hardware. The day on which the interested party learns about the vulnerability is named Zero Day.
Vectors
The malware, Spywares, and unauthorized access to the information of the user are involved in the zero-day attack. These attacks can be prevented through various software. The rogue websites or malicious codes on the website can also lead to the exploitation of vulnerabilities for the Browser. The main target of the attackers is mostly web browsers because the browsers and used widespread. Exploits can also be sent through e-mails which cause vulnerability for the software when it is opened. So, criminals attack the systems and steal confidential data.
Markets of Zero-Day Attack
- Criminal Hackers exchange the details of the vulnerable software to steal valuable information from that software. This is included in the Dark Market of the zero-day attack.
- Researchers and companies sell useful information to the intelligence services, militaries and the law enforcing authorities, and all this is in Gray Market.
- Some companies pay to the security researchers or white hat hackers to fix the problems in their software before the attack of criminal hackers. All this is in the White Market, in which the software vulnerabilities are disclosed before the attack and save the user data.
Examples of Zero-Day Attack
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Windows
There was an announcement of the zero-day flaw for all supported releases of Windows OS in May of this year. It was researched that the vulnerable code was more than 20 years old.
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Sony Zero-Day Attack
Sony Pictures Entertainment company was suffered from the Zero-day attack in late 2014. It was the worst corporate attack in history. A team of hackers crippled Sony’s network and release the confidential data of the company on public sites. Almost 100 TB of the data was accessed by the hackers and they release unpublished features films and business plans, contracts and the personal e-mails of the company.
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Java
The Oracle company released emergency patches in March for two critical vulnerabilities to Java. The hackers used one of the venerable weakness for their targeted attacks. The hacker used this exploitation to access data without user and password authentication. Windows and Mac Devices both are at the risk to these vulnerabilities.
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$90,000 Zero-Day Attack
A Russian Cybercriminal group exploits a zero-day attack that was being sold for $90,000 in June of 2016. Any type of Windows up to Windows 10 is potentially at the risk of this attack. The hackers have access to the Windows user account and then made them an administrator account and can steal the data of the user. Initially, this zero-day attack was listed for $95,000 on the dark web market but lowered to $90,000 after a couple of weeks in the market.
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Adobe Acrobat Reader
In February, the adobe reader 10 and 11 were at the potential risk of a zero-day exploit. This exploit is highly sophisticated and likes the larger sums of money by the intelligence companies.
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The DNC Hack
It is one of the zero-day attacks that have covered over the last eight months. The data of the Democratic National Committee (DNC) was released as a result of the zero-day attack. Russian hackers attacked and sent out thousands of emails involved with the DNC.
Protections
As the Zero-Day Attacks are unknown to the public so it is very difficult to defend against them. Buffer overflows techniques are introduced that are contemporary with the operating systems and provide protection mechanisms from the Zero-Day Attacks.