What is a Zero Day Attack?



A zero day refers to an exploit, either a worm or a virus that arrives on the heels of, or even before, the public announcement of vulnerability in a computer system. Usually a security update is released to prevent future attacks. Software corporations like Microsoft are constantly searching for vulnerabilities in their software and fixing them with updates and patches. Two years ago the average lead time a company had 2-4 months. This means that they would find exploitation point and have 2-4 four months to fix it before hackers discovered it and created viruses, Trojans, etc. This year the lead time has shrunk to an average of about 6 business days, making the need for good Zero Day Protection more important. In some more recent cases hackers have been able to find exploits only 48 hours the software companies find the exploits.

What is an example of a Zero Day Attack without Zero Day Protection?

The latest version of the MYdoom virus is a classic example of a zero day attack. The virus was released 2 days after a Microsoft Explorer exploit was made public. It was also released before Microsoft could make a patch to fix it, because there was no patch ready and the close timing to the exploit's publication this is considered a zero day attack.

What is the Best Zero Day Protection?

The best protection against zero day attacks is intelligent front end network hardware. Network application front end hardware, like Radware's DefensePro, intelligently monitors network traffic and behavior. Anti-virus software is useless against zero day attacks because there is no update on how to identify them. Intelligent hardware will protect eh network from zero day attacks by monitoring and analyzing the network behavior. When it notices that the behavior is not normal it will divert resources from the affected areas and alert the web masters or relevant IT personnel.

In conclusion zero day attacks are computer viruses and attacks for which there is no fix all ready made. The best zero day protection is intelligent hardware based front end applications.