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muerto1964 t1_j4j1omi wrote

Reply to comment by abitrolly in Zero Days (2016) - Stuxnet, a piece of self-replicating computer malware that the U.S. and Israel unleashed to destroy a key part of an Iranian nuclear facility, and which ultimately spread beyond its intended target. [01:53:51] by Missing_Trillions

The thing was genius. I think it had a total of 9(?) Zero day exploits! Most malware will only have 1 if they are very very lucky.

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Why_Did_Bodie_Die t1_j4jpsi7 wrote

I know almost nothing about computers. I remember in the documentary they made this seem pretty significant. Can you tell me a little about what a zero day is and why it is so significant? Are they really hard to do/make/get? Maybe EILI5.

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tygghb t1_j4k3xcu wrote

Software exploits that are "brand new" (ie. that the general public did not previously know about). Once an exploit is publically known about, the companies usually work quickly to patch them. They are therefore rare and highly sought after by bad actors.

The going rate is about $100,000 each on the dark web. When a bad guy writes malware, they typically use one zero-day exploit, maybe even two.... but to have NINE or whatever Stuxnet had, is unheard of and was a tell-tale sign that the software was created by a nation-state since the average bad guy is not going to spend $900,000+ to write their malware.

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so_futuristic t1_j4jrpzb wrote

software vulerabilities that are unknown but to the people exploiting then

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muerto1964 t1_j4kufni wrote

A zero day exploit is an attack vector that nobody has ever seen before. No one has seen it and therefore we probably have little defense against it. 1 is rare. 9 in the same piece of malware is unheard of

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