New NSA chief explains agency policy on “zero-day” exploits to Senate

In response to a series of questions posed before his confirmation hearing in front of the Senate Armed Services Committee, National Security Agency director nominee Vice Admiral Michael Rogers said that the NSA is working with the White House to create a process to determine what to do with zero-day vulnerabilities that the agency uncovers.

In his response to the questions, posted on the Armed Services Committee’s website, Adm Rogers acknowledged that some of those bugs are kept secret by the NSA for “purposes of foreign intelligence.” But he added that the NSA always had a process for handling information on flaws it discovers in commercial software and hardware, and more often than not, the agency discloses the vulnerabilities discovered in products to their developers or manufacturers.