What does the term 'Zero Day' mean in cybersecurity? Details explored as Robert De Niro show gears up for Netflix premiere

Zero Day, the newest political thriller from the house of Netflix, captained by Robert De Niro and created by Eric Newman, Michael Schmidt, and Noah Oppenheim will be hitting the screens on February 20, 2025.

Based on the aftermath of a massive cybersecurity attack on a global level, the show is going to be tense and tight, as has already been revealed by the trailer. In this present era of constant technological evolution, cyber security has been one crucial aspect to maintain since it has come under threat and abuse in numerous instances.

Zero Day, the title of the show, refers to a vulnerability existing in hardware or software, that remains unknown to the vendor, and as a result, no fix is available for the same. This means that the vendor gets literally zero days to get a patch or any other kind of fix for this vulnerability, which gets exploited before anything can be done.

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An attack like Zero Day would be hard to execute in today’s world

While watching the events unfold on Zero Day, it is very natural to wonder whether an attack of that large a scale can actually happen in today’s world. While threats of cyber security breaches are a very real problem in today’s world, the intensity and stature of the attack would be something difficult to achieve in modern times.

For instance, it is not unlikely for an important individual organization of a nation to go through a large-scale attack, however, coordinating that attack on a national or international level where all institutes of importance come under threat would be something quite difficult.

It is important to note here that agencies of political and social importance do not have to handle their own cyber security by themselves. There are Governmental places that take care of them and breaching all of them together would need a lot of confidential and highly important data is not an easy thing to do, no matter how strong the attacking organization is.

Moreover, intelligence agencies throughout the world have information on each other and there is consistent monitoring, which is very likely to predict if an attack is being planned.

However, as goes with any kind of destructive attack, a thing like what is shown in Zero Day is unlikely to pull off but cannot be said to be completely impossible. That is why agencies all over the world keep themselves prepared and upgraded in case anything like this occurs.

Also Read: Netflix drops the official trailer for Zero Day, political drama with a stacked cast of Robert DeNiro among others

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More about Zero Day

Robert De Niro plays the role of an ex-American President in Zero Day who has been called in to deal with

“the aftermath of a devastating cyberattack that kills thousands of people and threatens to push a nation already on the precipice over the edge.”

In the words of Oppenheim, the co-creator of the series,

“The show also looks at the cost of power for those who are asked to take on these enormous challenges — what it means for them personally, and what it means for their families.”

Besides starring as the key character, De Niro also serves as an executive producer. Other cast members include Bill Camp, Lizzy Caplan, Angela Bassett, Matthew Modine, etc.

Zero Day can be streamed on Netflix post its release.

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