Exploit

An exploit is a technique or piece of code that specifically takes advantage of a particular software vulnerability to achieve something normally not allowed — such as running malicious code, escalating privileges, or stealing data. Especially dangerous are " zero-day ✕ A zero-day is a security flaw still unknown to the developers — they have "zero days" of warning. Attackers can exploit it before an update exists. More in the glossary → exploits," which attack unknown flaws for which no patch exists yet. Protection comes mainly from fast updates that close known holes, and security programs that detect and block typical exploit behavior. More in the best antivirus comparison.