What Is A Zero-Day Vulnerability? How Can Your Protect Against It?

A Headshot of Michael WilliamsWritten by:

Michael Williams
Technology Business Engineer
NET Xperts LLC


With companies trending towards their business relying on cloud computing and infrastructure for day-to-day operations, software as a service is as essential as ever. While relying on third-party companies to manage your software may seem like a great way to mitigate headaches and risks, there exists one consistent threat in the form of a zero-day vulnerability.

A zero-day vulnerability is a software security flaw that is unknown to the software vendor and consequently doesn’t yet have a patch in place to fix the flaw. This then allows hackers, or malicious groups, to identify an exploit in software. Once identified, they can immediately start using this flaw for things such as data theft, spyware, spam, and holding your systems ransom. The term ‘zero-day’ comes from the fact that once the exploit is known, the software developers have zero days to fix the flaw, as it has already been identified and potentially utilized by hackers.

How can you prevent such occurrences from happening? While no amount of preparation is guaranteed to prevent software liabilities, some simple things you can do to prevent zero-day vulnerabilities from wreaking havoc are:

  • Implement preventative security – The best way to mitigate damage from an attack is to prevent it from happening in the first place. Antiviruses and Firewalls are common tools in preventative security.
  • Restrict and lock down your network – Restricting user access to only pertinent file systems can ensure the fewest number of systems are compromised in the event of an attack.
  • Back up your data – Backing up your data plays a major role in preventing lasting damage to your organization. Reliable and well-tested backups allow your business to get back on its feet quickly after an attack.
  • Add SIEM – A security information and event management (SIEM) program can monitor an entire network for any activity that seems out of the ordinary. When traffic or events hit certain criteria or stray too far from the norm, alerts are sent to the administration to analyze the threats before they become a problem.

Not sure how to do all these things? We don’t expect you to. NET Xperts can help by utilizing our NET X Alert! Managed Services programs, NET X SIEM, NET X DR+, and more! Zero-day vulnerabilities are a very current and real threat within the software-as-a-service landscape. However, with careful protection plans in place, you can ensure your network mitigates risk and can recover quickly in the event of a cyber security attack.

Don’t wait! Talk to us today about securing your network, give us a call at 412.244.NETX (6389).

Leave a Reply