‘Zero-day’ hacks hit record in 2021, Google researchers say

In recent years, hackers have used the ‘zero-day’ attack technique to install advanced spyware on smartphones that was then used to spy on journalists, politicians, human rights activists and others. — Using phone photo created by Dragana_Gordic - www.freepik.com

After a year dominated by high-profile ransomware attacks and supply chain compromises, researchers from Alphabet Inc’s Google have identified another ignominious cyber milepost for 2021: a record number of “zero-day” exploits.

A zero-day exploit is a previously unknown bug which leaves software vendors exactly zero days to secure it. That makes the technology in question particularly valuable to hackers – and a nightmare for cybersecurity professionals.