Z
Zero Day
a type of attack or vulnerability that happens or is exploited (respectively) before a security vulnerability has been identified and a notice or security patch is released to the public. Meaning, there are zero days for a patch, fix, or update to be created and released.
Zero Day Virus/Malware
This is malware that was previously unknown and no signatures are yet available to identify and defend against this type of malware or virus.
Zero-Day Attack
Is a type of attack that happens before a security vulnerability has been identified and a notice or security patch is released to the public. Meaning, there are zero days for a patch, fix, or update to be created and released. These are the hardest type of attacks to defend because the vulnerabilities are not yet known.
Zeus GameOver/Zeus P2P
Uses PeertoPeer (P2P) communications to create a Botnet used, mostly, to steal banking credentials from its victims. The unsuspecting systems that become part of the GameOver Zues (GOZ) botnet are used to send spam and participate in Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks.
ZeuS/Zbot
Is a very stealth, key logging and form grabbing, type of Trojan horse that is used to perform a maninthemiddle attack on various Windows platforms. ZeuS is mainly used to steal banking credentials from unsuspecting users.
Zip Bomb
Also referred to as “zip of death”, is a zip or archive file packed with malicious code. The file appears small in size during transit to try to avoid detection. During the unpacking operation the file size increases to an astronomical amount, consuming most or all of the system’s resources to open. The 42.zip zip bomb, for example, appeared to be a 42 kilobyte archive, but was actually 4.5 petabytes of compressed data. Zip bombs are often used to disable antivirus software.
Zombie
A compromised computer that has been taken over by a hacker. A zombie normally becomes a part of a botnet, that is used to perform malicious acts like sending spam, or helping to conduct a DoS or DDoS. The true system owners of zombies are normally unaware a hacker has taken control of their machine.