By: Dan Polk
Zero-day attacks represent a critical threat to businesses, occurring when vulnerabilities in software, devices, or networks are exploited by cybercriminals before the developers are even aware of the issue. These vulnerabilities, known as zero-day vulnerabilities, are particularly dangerous because they leave developers with no time to devise a response or solution, putting immense pressure on them to address the security risk swiftly.
The Motivation Behind Zero-Day Attacks:
Cybercriminals exploit vulnerabilities for various reasons, including financial gain. By developing malicious code that exploits weaknesses in your systems, these attackers can sell the code to others, who may then compromise your organization to steal data or deploy ransomware. The financial repercussions for your business can be significant, ranging from lost data to substantial ransom payments.
Strategies for Business Owners to Mitigate Zero-Day Attacks:
The primary defense against zero-day attacks is application whitelisting. Application whitelisting is the process of having your IT team automatically block/verify all un-approved software. How does this work? When your IT team implements application whitelisting, they choose which programs are safe and those then become available for download for everyone in your organization now and into the future. (Think programs like Grammarly, Clipchamp, etc.) However, if someone goes to install something for the first time this is automatically caught and sent to the IT team for review if it is safe and legitimate this can be approved in about a minute, and it is now available to everyone organization wide. If it is a hacker trying to implement ransomware software, it is blocked, and a cyber-attack has been thwarted!
If you would like to learn more about the services Silicon Plains offers, including application whitelisting check out the link below!