Abuse of zero-days dips last year, reports Google

More secure software development practices have prompted a decline in actively exploited zero-day vulnerabilities between 2023 and 2024, Cybersecurity Dive reports. Despite significant reductions in zero-day exploits against web browsers and mobile devices, zero-day abuse is expected to eventually increase as threat actors increasingly target enterprise platforms, particularly security and networking platforms that contribute to 60% of enterprise exploits, according to a report from Google's Threat Intelligence Group. Additional findings also showed that fewer enterprise vendors may have had exploited zero-days last year than in 2023, but not when compared with 2022. "Exploitation of these products, compared to end-user technologies, can more effectively and efficiently lead to extensive system and network compromises," said researchers. Most zero-day attacks in 2024 have involved state-backed cyberespionage groups, with North Korea and China having similar exploit incidence for the first time, followed by spyware companies.