Whenever a company is notified about or discovers a critical flaw in their system/application that has the potential to be exploited by malicious elements, it’s termed a vulnerability. However, every time a flaw being actively exploited is discovered, code red is punched as the organization’s IT team officially has a Zero-Day vulnerability/exploit on their hands! A zero-day vulnerability is a software vulnerability discovered by attackers before the vendor has become aware of it. Because the vendors are unaware, no patch exists for zero-day vulnerabilities, making attacks likely to succeed. A zero-day exploit that can compromise the security of an application, device, or network is often viewed as the ultimate prize in hacking. This term signifies a situation where the developer/IT team has no time to address the issue. As attackers can immediately exploit or are already exploiting the vulnerability to infiltrate the affected system, the organization is left with ZERO days to address the risk. Evolution of BugTraq – How a Mailing List from the 1990s Birthed a Cybersecurity Black Market A mailing list known as BugTraq, which has been operational since the early 1990s, has been making the rounds for years facilitating the discovery of numerous zero-day vulnerabilities. "For a considerable period, hackers showed minimal interest in pursuing financial incentives. Initially, upon uncovering zero-day exploits, they would approach the creators of the flawed software, including…Read More