The Pwn2Own hacking contest next month will feature its largest-ever crew of contestants, including past winners, a French security firm armed with a bagful of bugs and an iPhone jailbreak expert who has been sued by Sony.

"The major difference this year is the sheer number of interested parties," said Aaron Portnoy, manager of TippingPoint's security research team. "Either the contest is becoming more popular or more people are comfortable exploiting mobile devices this year."

TippingPoint is again sponsoring Pwn2Own, a hacking challenge now in its fifth year. The contest will kick off March 9 at the CanSecWest security conference in Vancouver, British Columbia.

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