Cyberattacks make headlines every week, but one particular type of threat has been challenging risk managers after the Log4j incident: zero days. What is a zero day and why is it relevant for third party risk management?
A zero day (also referred to as 0-day) is a software vulnerability either unknown to its developer, or known and without a patch to fix it. The name comes from the fact that the vendor has “zero days” to fix before it is actively exploited.
Until the vulnerability is mitigated, attackers can use it to compromise data or additional systems, including operating systems, web browsers, office applications, open-source components, hardware, firmware, or Internet of Things (IoT) devices.
The term is often used along with words like vulnerability, exploit, and attack, so it’s helpful to understand the difference:
Dealing with unpredictable zero day vulnerabilities is one of the greatest challenges faced by today’s security teams. They can either affect the organization directly or indirectly, through its third party vendors with access to the network.
Log4j is the most recent reminder of the impact zero day vulnerabilities can have in entire supply chains, after it was discovered that the vulnerability could allow attackers to seize control of nearly everything from industrial control systems to web servers and consumer electronics. Until the patch was released, every organization and vendor using the open source Apache logging library Log4j was vulnerable.
This is why vendor risk assessments and continuous monitoring of your third parties’ security performance are the pillars of a third party risk management program.
As part of your due diligence and ongoing reassessment processes, you need to make sure that your vendors are enforcing standards that keep your business safe. Should a zero day vulnerability appear, you need to be able to promptly:
All of these actions need to be conducted with a centralized, standardized third party risk management process, as opposed to chasing vendors via email and using spreadsheets to assess their security level.
Free Guide: How to build a scalable vendor risk management program
Software is written by humans, and humans are fallible. Developers create software every day, but unbeknownst to them, it may contain vulnerabilities. This makes zero day attacks inevitable, as attackers often spot those vulnerabilities before the developers detect and act on them.
So how can you minimize risk in your organization and across your vendor supply chain?
Zero day protection measures include:
Unpredictable vulnerabilities will be an ongoing concern for security teams inthe foreseeable future.
In this guide you will learn the fundamentals of zero days, patterns from our statistical analysis, and tips to reduce risk and remediate zero days if/when they happen.
Cookie | Duration | Description |
---|---|---|
cookielawinfo-checkbox-analytics | 11 months | This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Analytics". |
cookielawinfo-checkbox-functional | 11 months | The cookie is set by GDPR cookie consent to record the user consent for the cookies in the category "Functional". |
cookielawinfo-checkbox-necessary | 11 months | This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookies is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Necessary". |
cookielawinfo-checkbox-others | 11 months | This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Other. |
cookielawinfo-checkbox-performance | 11 months | This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Performance". |
viewed_cookie_policy | 11 months | The cookie is set by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin and is used to store whether or not user has consented to the use of cookies. It does not store any personal data. |