Government Hackers and Zero-Day Exploits: Google Report Reveals Alarming Trends

Government Hackers and Zero-Day Exploits: Google Report Reveals Alarming Trends

Government hackers are becoming a dominant force in the world of zero-day exploits, according to a new report from Google. A zero-day exploit occurs when hackers take advantage of a previously unknown vulnerability in software, often before the software’s creators are even aware of the issue. In 2024, government-backed hackers were behind a significant portion of these attacks. Google’s research found that 23 out of the 75 zero-day exploits attributed to specific hacker groups were linked to state-sponsored attackers, with China and North Korea being prominent actors in these cyberattacks.               Image Credits:Bryce Durbin / TechCrunch The research highlighted a slight decrease in the overall number of zero-day exploits, dropping from 98 in 2023 to 75 in 2024. However, government hackers were responsible for a considerable share of these incidents, underscoring the growing role of state-backed espionage in modern cyberattacks. These findings raise critical questions about the bal…