While you’ve taken steps to secure your network and sensitive data, you’re still at risk of a Zero-Day vulnerability. Maybe you’ve heard the term before but don’t have a deep understanding of how Zero-Day exploits work. Or perhaps, you know about Zero-Day exploits but need actionable insights on how to prevent them.

This guide provides an overview of Zero-Day exploits, how they happen, how to detect and identify a Zero-Day attack, and ways you can protect your organization.

The Basics: What is a Zero-Day exploit?

A Zero-Day exploit is an undisclosed application vulnerability that could be exploited to negatively affect the hardware, applications, data or network. The term “Zero-Day” refers to the fact that the developers have “zero” days to fix a problem that has just been exposed and may have been already exploited. Hackers seize on that security vulnerability to launch a cyber attack on the same day a weakness is discovered. Basically, the vulnerability is exploited before a fix becomes available.