8.4.4 Government Buying Zero-Day Exploits

Zero-day exploits are vulnerabilities in software that are unknown to the vendor and can be exploited by attackers before they are patched. Governments, including those of the U.S., U.K., Brazil, India, and Israel, purchase zero-day exploits on the grey market to use in cyber warfare or surveillance (Perlroth and Sanger 2013). These transactions are secretive, but insights into their dynamics h...