A zero-day vulnerability is a flaw in software, hardware or firmware that is exploited by hackers before or as soon as it becomes generally known to the public. This leaves the respective developers no time to create patches or recommend workarounds that would mitigate the effects from the exploitation.

Timeline

The following is the chronology of a zero-day vulnerability:

• Developers create software, but they are unaware it contains a vulnerability.
• A hacker discovers this vulnerability before the developer does and writes exploit code in the form of malware.
• After the malware is released, people suffer from its effects, and the attacks are publicized.
• The developer realizes the vulnerability and creates a patch or workaround to mitigate its effects.
• After the release of the patch, the exploit is no longer described as zero-day.
• It is uncommon that these exploit attacks are discovered immediately. Months and years may pass before a developer discovers the vulnerability.

Increasing Pace

The authors of exploit attacks typically take advantage of the most popular software vulnerabilities. In the past, they merely reutilized old flaws, which could be addressed by regular patching. They are now taking the initiative and finding new vulnerabilities.

Nowadays, new vulnerabilities are being discovered and exploited more swiftly. Unfortunately, developing, testing, and releasing patches demand time and testing. As a result, developers are finding it more difficult to cope with increasing number of attacks. In order to safeguard their assets, both businesses and consumers must now take the initiative by adopting new tools.

Anti-Exploit Technology

Ensuring that systems are up-to-date remains the best defense. Unfortunately, zero-day exploits make doing so irrelevant. In addition, the current solutions that are based on signatures at the gateway or end-point are reactive. As observed, these have not been effective.

Anti-Exploit technology addresses both vulnerabilities, whether known or unknown, and the malware released to exploit them. Malwarebytes Anti-Exploit combines an enforcement layer with protection layers, and this layered approach is capable of blocking malware, including those unknowingly downloaded by a legitimate system. A layered approach to security will be more effective because threats may come from both software flaws and human mistakes.

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