Monday, December 11, 2006

what is a zero-day exploit?

a zero-day exploit is exploit code that is in the wild (being used on computers in the real world rather than just a lab) on the same day (or even earlier) that the vulnerability it exploits is discovered by the good guys...

often the vulnerability is discovered by virtue of discovering the exploit code (ie. the exploit code reveals the presence of the vulnerability)...

the zero-day adjective dates back at least to the early warez days where releasing a pirated copy of something while it was still zero days old was something that was handsomely rewarded by others in the scene...

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