In a report which underscores the growth of a paid market in zero day exploits, The New York Times has revealed that hackers all across the world have admitted that they find flaws in the computer codes of government systems in different countries and then sell them to the adversaries of those countries.

According to the NY Times report, the hackers' business of marketing to countries' adversaries is booming. A few years back, most hackers would have sold the details of the flaws to tech firms like Microsoft and Apple, which would have fixed the flaws.

But now, even though companies have recently increased the amount they are willing to pay to the hackers obtaining information about flaws, countries that want to exploit the flaws are outbidding the companies.

With countries now offering the hackers a much bigger amount than companies to get hold of the information, and exploit it, the NY Times report said that the information is marketed to government by connected middle-men, in exchange for a 15 percent cut.

Against the backdrop of the NY Times report, former White House cybersecurity coordinator Howard Schmidt said: "Governments are starting to say, 'In order to best protect my country, I need to find vulnerabilities in other countries.' The problem is that we all fundamentally become less secure."