Despite developers' goal of delivering a product that works entirely as intended, virtually all software and hardware contain bugs. If a bug creates a security risk, it is called a vulnerability. Vulnerabilities vary in their ability to be exploited by malicious actors. Some are not usable at all, while others can be used to disrupt the device with a denial of service attack. The most valuable allow the attacker to inject and run their own code, without the user being aware of it. Although the term "zero-day" initially referred to the time since the vendor had become aware of the vulnerability, zero-day vulnerabilities can also be defined as the subset of vulnerabilities for which no patch or other fix is available. A zero-day exploit is any exploit that takes advantage of such a vulnerability.
Governments of states are the primary users of zero-day exploits, not only because of the high cost of finding or buying vulnerabilities, but also the significant cost of writing the attack software. Nevertheless, anyone can use a vulnerability, and according to research by the RAND Corporation, "any serious attacker can always get an affordable zero-day for almost any target". Many targeted attacks and most advanced persistent threats rely on zero-day vulnerabilities.
The average time to develop an exploit from a zero-day vulnerability was estimated at 22 days. The difficulty of developing exploits has been increasing over time due to increased anti-exploitation features in popular software.
Zero-day vulnerabilities are often classified as alive—meaning that there is no public knowledge of the vulnerability—and dead—the vulnerability has been disclosed, but not patched. If the software's maintainers are actively searching for vulnerabilities, it is a living vulnerability; such vulnerabilities in unmaintained software are called immortal. Zombie vulnerabilities can be exploited in older versions of the software but have been patched in newer versions.
Even publicly known and zombie vulnerabilities are often exploitable for an extended period. Security patches can take months to develop, or may never be developed. A patch can have negative effects on the functionality of software and users may need to test the patch to confirm functionality and compatibility. Larger organizations may fail to identify and patch all dependencies, while smaller enterprises and personal users may not install patches.
Research suggests that risk of cyberattack increases if the vulnerability is made publicly known or a patch is released. Cybercriminals can reverse engineer the patch to find the underlying vulnerability and develop exploits, often faster than users install the patch.
Because, by definition, there is no patch that can block a zero-day exploit, all systems employing the software or hardware with the vulnerability are at risk. This includes secure systems such as banks and governments that have all patches up to date. Security systems are designed around known vulnerabilities, and repeated exploitations of a zero-day exploit could continue undetected for an extended period of time. Although there have been many proposals for a system that is effective at detecting zero-day exploits, this remains an active area of research in 2023.
Zero-day exploits can fetch millions of dollars. There are three main types of buyers:
In 2015, the markets for government and crime were estimated at at least ten times larger than the white market. Sellers are often hacker groups that seek out vulnerabilities in widely used software for financial reward. Some will only sell to certain buyers, while others will sell to anyone. White market sellers are more likely to be motivated by non pecuniary rewards such as recognition and intellectual challenge. Selling zero-day exploits is legal. Despite calls for more regulation, law professor Mailyn Fidler says there is little chance of an international agreement because key players such as Russia and Israel are not interested.
Research published in 2022 based on maximum prices paid as quoted by a single exploit broker found a 44 percent annualized inflation rate in exploit pricing. Remote zero-click exploits could fetch the highest price, while those that require local access to the device are much cheaper. Vulnerabilities in widely used software are also more expensive. They estimated that around 400 to 1,500 people sold exploits to that broker and they made around $5,500 to $20,800 annually.
As of 2017, there is an ongoing debate as to whether the United States should disclose the vulnerabilities it is aware of, so that they can be patched, or keep them secret for its own use. Reasons that states keep a vulnerability secret include wanting to use it offensively, or defensively in penetration testing. Disclosing the vulnerability reduces the risk that consumers and all users of the software will be victimized by malware or data breaches.
The phases of zero-day vulnerability disclosure, along with a typical timeline, are as follows:
Zero-day exploits increased in significance after services such as Apple, Google, Facebook, and Microsoft encrypted servers and messages, meaning that the most feasible way to access a user's data was to intercept it at the source before it was encrypted. One of the best-known use of zero-day exploits was the Stuxnet worm, which used four zero-day vulnerabilities to damage Iran's nuclear program in 2010. The worm showed what could be achieved by zero-day exploits, unleashing an expansion in the market.
The year 2020 saw one of the most sophisticated cyber espionage campaigns to date, in which attackers exploited multiple vulnerabilities, including zero-day vulnerabilities, to compromise SolarWinds' Orion software. This allowed access to numerous government and corporate networks.
Guo, Mingyu; Wang, Guanhua; Hata, Hideaki; Babar, Muhammad Ali (2021-07-01). "Revenue maximizing markets for zero-day exploits". Autonomous Agents and Multi-Agent Systems. 35 (2): 36. arXiv:2006.14184. doi:10.1007/s10458-021-09522-w. ISSN 1387-2532. S2CID 254225904. https://link.springer.com/10.1007/s10458-021-09522-w
Compare: "What is a Zero-Day Vulnerability?". pctools. Symantec. Archived from the original on 2017-07-04. Retrieved 2016-01-20. A zero day vulnerability refers to an exploitable bug in software that is unknown to the vendor. This security hole may be exploited by crackers before the vendor becomes aware and hurries to fix it—this exploit is called a zero day attack. https://web.archive.org/web/20170704035927/http://www.pctools.com/security-news/zero-day-vulnerability/
Zetter, Kim (Nov 11, 2014). "Hacker Lexicon: What Is a Zero Day?". Wired. https://www.wired.com/2014/11/what-is-a-zero-day/
"Where the term "Zero Day" comes from - mmmm". 2018-01-31. Archived from the original on 2018-01-31. Retrieved 2021-09-05. https://web.archive.org/web/20180131070511/http://markmaunder.com/2014/06/16/where-zero-day-comes-from/
"Flash Vulnerabilities Causing Problems". ESET. Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved Mar 4, 2016. https://web.archive.org/web/20160304075159/http://www.eset.co.uk/Press-Centre/Blog/Article/flash-zero-day
The Man Who Found Stuxnet – Sergey Ulasen in the Spotlight published on November 2, 2011 https://eugene.kaspersky.com/2011/11/02/the-man-who-found-stuxnet-sergey-ulasen-in-the-spotlight/
Ablon & Bogart 2017, p. 1. - Ablon, Lillian; Bogart, Andy (2017). Zero Days, Thousands of Nights: The Life and Times of Zero-Day Vulnerabilities and Their Exploits (PDF). Rand Corporation. ISBN 978-0-8330-9761-3. https://www.rand.org/content/dam/rand/pubs/research_reports/RR1700/RR1751/RAND_RR1751.pdf
Ablon & Bogart 2017, p. 2. - Ablon, Lillian; Bogart, Andy (2017). Zero Days, Thousands of Nights: The Life and Times of Zero-Day Vulnerabilities and Their Exploits (PDF). Rand Corporation. ISBN 978-0-8330-9761-3. https://www.rand.org/content/dam/rand/pubs/research_reports/RR1700/RR1751/RAND_RR1751.pdf
Ablon & Bogart 2017, pp. iii, 2. - Ablon, Lillian; Bogart, Andy (2017). Zero Days, Thousands of Nights: The Life and Times of Zero-Day Vulnerabilities and Their Exploits (PDF). Rand Corporation. ISBN 978-0-8330-9761-3. https://www.rand.org/content/dam/rand/pubs/research_reports/RR1700/RR1751/RAND_RR1751.pdf
Sood & Enbody 2014, p. 1. - Sood, Aditya; Enbody, Richard (2014). Targeted Cyber Attacks: Multi-staged Attacks Driven by Exploits and Malware. Syngress. ISBN 978-0-12-800619-1.
Perlroth 2021, p. 7. - Perlroth, Nicole (2021). This Is How They Tell Me the World Ends: The Cyberweapons Arms Race. Bloomsbury Publishing. ISBN 978-1-5266-2983-8.
Ablon & Bogart 2017, p. 2. - Ablon, Lillian; Bogart, Andy (2017). Zero Days, Thousands of Nights: The Life and Times of Zero-Day Vulnerabilities and Their Exploits (PDF). Rand Corporation. ISBN 978-0-8330-9761-3. https://www.rand.org/content/dam/rand/pubs/research_reports/RR1700/RR1751/RAND_RR1751.pdf
Strout 2023, p. 23. - Strout, Benjamin (2023). The Vulnerability Researcher's Handbook: A comprehensive guide to discovering, reporting, and publishing security vulnerabilities. Packt Publishing. ISBN 978-1-80324-356-6.
Ablon & Bogart 2017, p. 3. - Ablon, Lillian; Bogart, Andy (2017). Zero Days, Thousands of Nights: The Life and Times of Zero-Day Vulnerabilities and Their Exploits (PDF). Rand Corporation. ISBN 978-0-8330-9761-3. https://www.rand.org/content/dam/rand/pubs/research_reports/RR1700/RR1751/RAND_RR1751.pdf
Sood & Enbody 2014, p. 24. - Sood, Aditya; Enbody, Richard (2014). Targeted Cyber Attacks: Multi-staged Attacks Driven by Exploits and Malware. Syngress. ISBN 978-0-12-800619-1.
Bravo & Kitchen 2022, p. 11. - Bravo, Cesar; Kitchen, Darren (2022). Mastering Defensive Security: Effective techniques to secure your Windows, Linux, IoT, and cloud infrastructure. Packt Publishing. ISBN 978-1-80020-609-0.
Ablon & Bogart 2017, p. 3. - Ablon, Lillian; Bogart, Andy (2017). Zero Days, Thousands of Nights: The Life and Times of Zero-Day Vulnerabilities and Their Exploits (PDF). Rand Corporation. ISBN 978-0-8330-9761-3. https://www.rand.org/content/dam/rand/pubs/research_reports/RR1700/RR1751/RAND_RR1751.pdf
Sood & Enbody 2014, p. 1. - Sood, Aditya; Enbody, Richard (2014). Targeted Cyber Attacks: Multi-staged Attacks Driven by Exploits and Malware. Syngress. ISBN 978-0-12-800619-1.
Ablon & Bogart 2017, p. xiv. - Ablon, Lillian; Bogart, Andy (2017). Zero Days, Thousands of Nights: The Life and Times of Zero-Day Vulnerabilities and Their Exploits (PDF). Rand Corporation. ISBN 978-0-8330-9761-3. https://www.rand.org/content/dam/rand/pubs/research_reports/RR1700/RR1751/RAND_RR1751.pdf
Sood & Enbody 2014, pp. 2–3, 24. - Sood, Aditya; Enbody, Richard (2014). Targeted Cyber Attacks: Multi-staged Attacks Driven by Exploits and Malware. Syngress. ISBN 978-0-12-800619-1.
Sood & Enbody 2014, p. 4. - Sood, Aditya; Enbody, Richard (2014). Targeted Cyber Attacks: Multi-staged Attacks Driven by Exploits and Malware. Syngress. ISBN 978-0-12-800619-1.
Ablon & Bogart 2017, p. xiii. - Ablon, Lillian; Bogart, Andy (2017). Zero Days, Thousands of Nights: The Life and Times of Zero-Day Vulnerabilities and Their Exploits (PDF). Rand Corporation. ISBN 978-0-8330-9761-3. https://www.rand.org/content/dam/rand/pubs/research_reports/RR1700/RR1751/RAND_RR1751.pdf
Perlroth 2021, p. 142. - Perlroth, Nicole (2021). This Is How They Tell Me the World Ends: The Cyberweapons Arms Race. Bloomsbury Publishing. ISBN 978-1-5266-2983-8.
Ablon & Bogart 2017, p. xi. - Ablon, Lillian; Bogart, Andy (2017). Zero Days, Thousands of Nights: The Life and Times of Zero-Day Vulnerabilities and Their Exploits (PDF). Rand Corporation. ISBN 978-0-8330-9761-3. https://www.rand.org/content/dam/rand/pubs/research_reports/RR1700/RR1751/RAND_RR1751.pdf
Ablon & Bogart 2017, p. 8. - Ablon, Lillian; Bogart, Andy (2017). Zero Days, Thousands of Nights: The Life and Times of Zero-Day Vulnerabilities and Their Exploits (PDF). Rand Corporation. ISBN 978-0-8330-9761-3. https://www.rand.org/content/dam/rand/pubs/research_reports/RR1700/RR1751/RAND_RR1751.pdf
Sood & Enbody 2014, p. 42. - Sood, Aditya; Enbody, Richard (2014). Targeted Cyber Attacks: Multi-staged Attacks Driven by Exploits and Malware. Syngress. ISBN 978-0-12-800619-1.
Strout 2023, p. 26. - Strout, Benjamin (2023). The Vulnerability Researcher's Handbook: A comprehensive guide to discovering, reporting, and publishing security vulnerabilities. Packt Publishing. ISBN 978-1-80324-356-6.
Sood & Enbody 2014, p. 42. - Sood, Aditya; Enbody, Richard (2014). Targeted Cyber Attacks: Multi-staged Attacks Driven by Exploits and Malware. Syngress. ISBN 978-0-12-800619-1.
Sood & Enbody 2014, p. 42. - Sood, Aditya; Enbody, Richard (2014). Targeted Cyber Attacks: Multi-staged Attacks Driven by Exploits and Malware. Syngress. ISBN 978-0-12-800619-1.
Libicki, Ablon & Webb 2015, p. 50. - Libicki, Martin C.; Ablon, Lillian; Webb, Tim (2015). The Defender's Dilemma: Charting a Course Toward Cybersecurity (PDF). Rand Corporation. ISBN 978-0-8330-8911-3. https://www.rand.org/content/dam/rand/pubs/research_reports/RR1000/RR1024/RAND_RR1024.pdf
Sood & Enbody 2014, p. 42. - Sood, Aditya; Enbody, Richard (2014). Targeted Cyber Attacks: Multi-staged Attacks Driven by Exploits and Malware. Syngress. ISBN 978-0-12-800619-1.
Libicki, Ablon & Webb 2015, pp. 49–50. - Libicki, Martin C.; Ablon, Lillian; Webb, Tim (2015). The Defender's Dilemma: Charting a Course Toward Cybersecurity (PDF). Rand Corporation. ISBN 978-0-8330-8911-3. https://www.rand.org/content/dam/rand/pubs/research_reports/RR1000/RR1024/RAND_RR1024.pdf
Strout 2023, p. 28. - Strout, Benjamin (2023). The Vulnerability Researcher's Handbook: A comprehensive guide to discovering, reporting, and publishing security vulnerabilities. Packt Publishing. ISBN 978-1-80324-356-6.
Libicki, Ablon & Webb 2015, pp. 49–50. - Libicki, Martin C.; Ablon, Lillian; Webb, Tim (2015). The Defender's Dilemma: Charting a Course Toward Cybersecurity (PDF). Rand Corporation. ISBN 978-0-8330-8911-3. https://www.rand.org/content/dam/rand/pubs/research_reports/RR1000/RR1024/RAND_RR1024.pdf
Ablon & Bogart 2017, p. x. - Ablon, Lillian; Bogart, Andy (2017). Zero Days, Thousands of Nights: The Life and Times of Zero-Day Vulnerabilities and Their Exploits (PDF). Rand Corporation. ISBN 978-0-8330-9761-3. https://www.rand.org/content/dam/rand/pubs/research_reports/RR1700/RR1751/RAND_RR1751.pdf
Ablon & Bogart 2017, p. xiii. - Ablon, Lillian; Bogart, Andy (2017). Zero Days, Thousands of Nights: The Life and Times of Zero-Day Vulnerabilities and Their Exploits (PDF). Rand Corporation. ISBN 978-0-8330-9761-3. https://www.rand.org/content/dam/rand/pubs/research_reports/RR1700/RR1751/RAND_RR1751.pdf
Ablon & Bogart 2017, pp. xi–xii. - Ablon, Lillian; Bogart, Andy (2017). Zero Days, Thousands of Nights: The Life and Times of Zero-Day Vulnerabilities and Their Exploits (PDF). Rand Corporation. ISBN 978-0-8330-9761-3. https://www.rand.org/content/dam/rand/pubs/research_reports/RR1700/RR1751/RAND_RR1751.pdf
Ablon & Bogart 2017, p. x: "For a given stockpile of zero-day vulnerabilities, after a year, approximately 5.7 percent have been discovered by an outside entity." - Ablon, Lillian; Bogart, Andy (2017). Zero Days, Thousands of Nights: The Life and Times of Zero-Day Vulnerabilities and Their Exploits (PDF). Rand Corporation. ISBN 978-0-8330-9761-3. https://www.rand.org/content/dam/rand/pubs/research_reports/RR1700/RR1751/RAND_RR1751.pdf
Leal, Marcelo M.; Musgrave, Paul (2023). "Backwards from zero: How the U.S. public evaluates the use of zero-day vulnerabilities in cybersecurity". Contemporary Security Policy. 44 (3): 437–461. doi:10.1080/13523260.2023.2216112. ISSN 1352-3260. /wiki/Doi_(identifier)
Perlroth 2021, p. 8. - Perlroth, Nicole (2021). This Is How They Tell Me the World Ends: The Cyberweapons Arms Race. Bloomsbury Publishing. ISBN 978-1-5266-2983-8.
Sood & Enbody 2014, p. 42. - Sood, Aditya; Enbody, Richard (2014). Targeted Cyber Attacks: Multi-staged Attacks Driven by Exploits and Malware. Syngress. ISBN 978-0-12-800619-1.
Ahmad et al. 2023, p. 10733. - Ahmad, Rasheed; Alsmadi, Izzat; Alhamdani, Wasim; Tawalbeh, Lo’ai (2023). "Zero-day attack detection: a systematic literature review". Artificial Intelligence Review. 56 (10): 10733–10811. doi:10.1007/s10462-023-10437-z. ISSN 1573-7462. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10462-023-10437-z
Strout 2023, p. 24. - Strout, Benjamin (2023). The Vulnerability Researcher's Handbook: A comprehensive guide to discovering, reporting, and publishing security vulnerabilities. Packt Publishing. ISBN 978-1-80324-356-6.
Libicki, Ablon & Webb 2015, p. 104. - Libicki, Martin C.; Ablon, Lillian; Webb, Tim (2015). The Defender's Dilemma: Charting a Course Toward Cybersecurity (PDF). Rand Corporation. ISBN 978-0-8330-8911-3. https://www.rand.org/content/dam/rand/pubs/research_reports/RR1000/RR1024/RAND_RR1024.pdf
Dellago, Simpson & Woods 2022, p. 41. - Dellago, Matthias; Simpson, Andrew C.; Woods, Daniel W. (2022). "Exploit Brokers and Offensive Cyber Operations". The Cyber Defense Review. 7 (3): 31–48. ISSN 2474-2120. JSTOR 48682321. https://search.worldcat.org/issn/2474-2120
Sood & Enbody 2014, p. 1. - Sood, Aditya; Enbody, Richard (2014). Targeted Cyber Attacks: Multi-staged Attacks Driven by Exploits and Malware. Syngress. ISBN 978-0-12-800619-1.
Libicki, Ablon & Webb 2015, p. 44. - Libicki, Martin C.; Ablon, Lillian; Webb, Tim (2015). The Defender's Dilemma: Charting a Course Toward Cybersecurity (PDF). Rand Corporation. ISBN 978-0-8330-8911-3. https://www.rand.org/content/dam/rand/pubs/research_reports/RR1000/RR1024/RAND_RR1024.pdf
Dellago, Simpson & Woods 2022, p. 33. - Dellago, Matthias; Simpson, Andrew C.; Woods, Daniel W. (2022). "Exploit Brokers and Offensive Cyber Operations". The Cyber Defense Review. 7 (3): 31–48. ISSN 2474-2120. JSTOR 48682321. https://search.worldcat.org/issn/2474-2120
O'Harrow 2013, p. 18. - O'Harrow, Robert (2013). Zero Day: The Threat In Cyberspace. Diversion Books. ISBN 978-1-938120-76-3.
Libicki, Ablon & Webb 2015, p. 45. - Libicki, Martin C.; Ablon, Lillian; Webb, Tim (2015). The Defender's Dilemma: Charting a Course Toward Cybersecurity (PDF). Rand Corporation. ISBN 978-0-8330-8911-3. https://www.rand.org/content/dam/rand/pubs/research_reports/RR1000/RR1024/RAND_RR1024.pdf
Strout 2023, p. 36. - Strout, Benjamin (2023). The Vulnerability Researcher's Handbook: A comprehensive guide to discovering, reporting, and publishing security vulnerabilities. Packt Publishing. ISBN 978-1-80324-356-6.
Sood & Enbody 2014, p. 1. - Sood, Aditya; Enbody, Richard (2014). Targeted Cyber Attacks: Multi-staged Attacks Driven by Exploits and Malware. Syngress. ISBN 978-0-12-800619-1.
Libicki, Ablon & Webb 2015, p. 44. - Libicki, Martin C.; Ablon, Lillian; Webb, Tim (2015). The Defender's Dilemma: Charting a Course Toward Cybersecurity (PDF). Rand Corporation. ISBN 978-0-8330-8911-3. https://www.rand.org/content/dam/rand/pubs/research_reports/RR1000/RR1024/RAND_RR1024.pdf
Sood & Enbody 2014, p. 1. - Sood, Aditya; Enbody, Richard (2014). Targeted Cyber Attacks: Multi-staged Attacks Driven by Exploits and Malware. Syngress. ISBN 978-0-12-800619-1.
Perlroth 2021, p. 145. - Perlroth, Nicole (2021). This Is How They Tell Me the World Ends: The Cyberweapons Arms Race. Bloomsbury Publishing. ISBN 978-1-5266-2983-8.
Libicki, Ablon & Webb 2015, pp. 44, 46. - Libicki, Martin C.; Ablon, Lillian; Webb, Tim (2015). The Defender's Dilemma: Charting a Course Toward Cybersecurity (PDF). Rand Corporation. ISBN 978-0-8330-8911-3. https://www.rand.org/content/dam/rand/pubs/research_reports/RR1000/RR1024/RAND_RR1024.pdf
Libicki, Ablon & Webb 2015, p. 46. - Libicki, Martin C.; Ablon, Lillian; Webb, Tim (2015). The Defender's Dilemma: Charting a Course Toward Cybersecurity (PDF). Rand Corporation. ISBN 978-0-8330-8911-3. https://www.rand.org/content/dam/rand/pubs/research_reports/RR1000/RR1024/RAND_RR1024.pdf
Libicki, Ablon & Webb 2015, p. 44. - Libicki, Martin C.; Ablon, Lillian; Webb, Tim (2015). The Defender's Dilemma: Charting a Course Toward Cybersecurity (PDF). Rand Corporation. ISBN 978-0-8330-8911-3. https://www.rand.org/content/dam/rand/pubs/research_reports/RR1000/RR1024/RAND_RR1024.pdf
Sood & Enbody 2014, p. 116. - Sood, Aditya; Enbody, Richard (2014). Targeted Cyber Attacks: Multi-staged Attacks Driven by Exploits and Malware. Syngress. ISBN 978-0-12-800619-1.
Libicki, Ablon & Webb 2015, p. 46. - Libicki, Martin C.; Ablon, Lillian; Webb, Tim (2015). The Defender's Dilemma: Charting a Course Toward Cybersecurity (PDF). Rand Corporation. ISBN 978-0-8330-8911-3. https://www.rand.org/content/dam/rand/pubs/research_reports/RR1000/RR1024/RAND_RR1024.pdf
Libicki, Ablon & Webb 2015, pp. 46–47. - Libicki, Martin C.; Ablon, Lillian; Webb, Tim (2015). The Defender's Dilemma: Charting a Course Toward Cybersecurity (PDF). Rand Corporation. ISBN 978-0-8330-8911-3. https://www.rand.org/content/dam/rand/pubs/research_reports/RR1000/RR1024/RAND_RR1024.pdf
Libicki, Ablon & Webb 2015, p. 45. - Libicki, Martin C.; Ablon, Lillian; Webb, Tim (2015). The Defender's Dilemma: Charting a Course Toward Cybersecurity (PDF). Rand Corporation. ISBN 978-0-8330-8911-3. https://www.rand.org/content/dam/rand/pubs/research_reports/RR1000/RR1024/RAND_RR1024.pdf
Gooding, Matthew (19 July 2022). "Zero day vulnerability trade is lucrative but risky". Tech Monitor. Retrieved 4 April 2024. https://techmonitor.ai/partner-content/zero-day-vulnerability-exploit-spyware
Gooding, Matthew (19 July 2022). "Zero day vulnerability trade is lucrative but risky". Tech Monitor. Retrieved 4 April 2024. https://techmonitor.ai/partner-content/zero-day-vulnerability-exploit-spyware
Perlroth 2021, p. 42. - Perlroth, Nicole (2021). This Is How They Tell Me the World Ends: The Cyberweapons Arms Race. Bloomsbury Publishing. ISBN 978-1-5266-2983-8.
Perlroth 2021, p. 57. - Perlroth, Nicole (2021). This Is How They Tell Me the World Ends: The Cyberweapons Arms Race. Bloomsbury Publishing. ISBN 978-1-5266-2983-8.
Perlroth 2021, p. 58. - Perlroth, Nicole (2021). This Is How They Tell Me the World Ends: The Cyberweapons Arms Race. Bloomsbury Publishing. ISBN 978-1-5266-2983-8.
Sood & Enbody 2014, p. 117. - Sood, Aditya; Enbody, Richard (2014). Targeted Cyber Attacks: Multi-staged Attacks Driven by Exploits and Malware. Syngress. ISBN 978-0-12-800619-1.
Dellago, Simpson & Woods 2022, pp. 31, 41. - Dellago, Matthias; Simpson, Andrew C.; Woods, Daniel W. (2022). "Exploit Brokers and Offensive Cyber Operations". The Cyber Defense Review. 7 (3): 31–48. ISSN 2474-2120. JSTOR 48682321. https://search.worldcat.org/issn/2474-2120
Libicki, Ablon & Webb 2015, p. 48. - Libicki, Martin C.; Ablon, Lillian; Webb, Tim (2015). The Defender's Dilemma: Charting a Course Toward Cybersecurity (PDF). Rand Corporation. ISBN 978-0-8330-8911-3. https://www.rand.org/content/dam/rand/pubs/research_reports/RR1000/RR1024/RAND_RR1024.pdf
Dellago, Simpson & Woods 2022, p. 42: "The number of independent active sellers (between 400[31] and 1500[35] individuals) ... 2015,[35] suggests an annual pay of $5.5k - 20.8k per researcher." - Dellago, Matthias; Simpson, Andrew C.; Woods, Daniel W. (2022). "Exploit Brokers and Offensive Cyber Operations". The Cyber Defense Review. 7 (3): 31–48. ISSN 2474-2120. JSTOR 48682321. https://search.worldcat.org/issn/2474-2120
Ablon & Bogart 2017, p. iii. - Ablon, Lillian; Bogart, Andy (2017). Zero Days, Thousands of Nights: The Life and Times of Zero-Day Vulnerabilities and Their Exploits (PDF). Rand Corporation. ISBN 978-0-8330-9761-3. https://www.rand.org/content/dam/rand/pubs/research_reports/RR1700/RR1751/RAND_RR1751.pdf
Ablon & Bogart 2017, p. xiv. - Ablon, Lillian; Bogart, Andy (2017). Zero Days, Thousands of Nights: The Life and Times of Zero-Day Vulnerabilities and Their Exploits (PDF). Rand Corporation. ISBN 978-0-8330-9761-3. https://www.rand.org/content/dam/rand/pubs/research_reports/RR1700/RR1751/RAND_RR1751.pdf
Ablon & Bogart 2017, p. 1. - Ablon, Lillian; Bogart, Andy (2017). Zero Days, Thousands of Nights: The Life and Times of Zero-Day Vulnerabilities and Their Exploits (PDF). Rand Corporation. ISBN 978-0-8330-9761-3. https://www.rand.org/content/dam/rand/pubs/research_reports/RR1700/RR1751/RAND_RR1751.pdf
Perlroth 2021, p. 8. - Perlroth, Nicole (2021). This Is How They Tell Me the World Ends: The Cyberweapons Arms Race. Bloomsbury Publishing. ISBN 978-1-5266-2983-8.
Ablon & Bogart 2017, p. 3. - Ablon, Lillian; Bogart, Andy (2017). Zero Days, Thousands of Nights: The Life and Times of Zero-Day Vulnerabilities and Their Exploits (PDF). Rand Corporation. ISBN 978-0-8330-9761-3. https://www.rand.org/content/dam/rand/pubs/research_reports/RR1700/RR1751/RAND_RR1751.pdf
Perlroth 2021, p. 145. - Perlroth, Nicole (2021). This Is How They Tell Me the World Ends: The Cyberweapons Arms Race. Bloomsbury Publishing. ISBN 978-1-5266-2983-8.
Perlroth 2021, p. 9. - Perlroth, Nicole (2021). This Is How They Tell Me the World Ends: The Cyberweapons Arms Race. Bloomsbury Publishing. ISBN 978-1-5266-2983-8.
Perlroth 2021, pp. 60, 62. - Perlroth, Nicole (2021). This Is How They Tell Me the World Ends: The Cyberweapons Arms Race. Bloomsbury Publishing. ISBN 978-1-5266-2983-8.
Perlroth 2021, p. 9. - Perlroth, Nicole (2021). This Is How They Tell Me the World Ends: The Cyberweapons Arms Race. Bloomsbury Publishing. ISBN 978-1-5266-2983-8.
Perlroth 2021, p. 10. - Perlroth, Nicole (2021). This Is How They Tell Me the World Ends: The Cyberweapons Arms Race. Bloomsbury Publishing. ISBN 978-1-5266-2983-8.
"Heartbleed: Serious OpenSSL zero day vulnerability revealed". ZDNet. Archived from the original on 2024-10-04. Retrieved 2024-11-29. https://www.zdnet.com/article/heartbleed-serious-openssl-zero-day-vulnerability-revealed/
"The Shadow Brokers publishing the NSA vulnerabilities". Cyberlaw. 4 June 2021. Archived from the original on 2024-02-27. Retrieved 2024-11-29. https://cyberlaw.ccdcoe.org/wiki/The_Shadow_Brokers_publishing_the_NSA_vulnerabilities_(2016)
"SolarWinds hack explained: Everything you need to know". TechTarget. Archived from the original on 2024-10-05. Retrieved 2024-11-29. https://www.techtarget.com/whatis/feature/SolarWinds-hack-explained-Everything-you-need-to-know
"Businesses urged to act fast against ProxyLogon attack on Microsoft Exchange Server". S-RM. Archived from the original on 2024-11-29. Retrieved 2024-11-29. https://www.s-rminform.com/latest-thinking/proxylogon-attack-on-microsoft-exchange-server
Marczak, Bill; Scott-Railton, John; Razzak, Bahr Abdul; Deibert, Ron (18 April 2023). "NSO Group's Pegasus Spyware Returns in 2022 with a Trio of iOS 15 and iOS 16 Zero-Click Exploit Chains". Citizenlab. Archived from the original on 2024-09-27. Retrieved 2024-11-29. https://citizenlab.ca/2023/04/nso-groups-pegasus-spyware-returns-in-2022/