Aaron Portnoy, TippingPoint Technologies Security Research Team Lead, has announced that the annual Pwn2Own contest will take place at this year's CanSecWest security conference on the 24th of March in Vancouver. To commemorate the 4th Pwn2Own contest, the total cash prize amount has been increased to $100,000 this year.. According to Portnoy, this year's event, which will take place over the course of three days, will focus on "two main technology targets". As with previous Pwn2Own events, the first portion of the contest will target web browser and operating system pairings. Over the course of the event, contestants will be able to attempt to exploit browsers ranging from Internet Explorer 7 & 8, to Firefox 3, Chrome 4 and Safari 4 on Windows 7, Vista and Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard. According to the rules, the exploits used should work with little or no user interaction. Apple's iPhone 3GS, RIM's Blackberry Bold 9700, a Nokia Symbian S60 phone and a Motorola Android-based phone will also be targeted. The browser and mobile contest will run concurrently and those interested in participating are asked to register by emailing
A hacking contest next month will award cash prizes of $15,000 to anyone who can break into an iPhone, BlackBerry Bold, Droid or Nokia smartphone. The prizes are 50% more than the top awards given last year at Pwn2Own, which will kick off March 24 at the CanSecWest security conference in Vancouver, British Columbia. Altogether, $100,000 could be handed out by 3Com TippingPoint, the contest sponsor. . Pwn2Own will again offer a dual-track challenge with both browser and mobile OS targets, said Aaron Portnoy, a TippingPoint security researcher, on a company blog that announced details of this year's contest. Now in its fourth year, Pwn2Own has repeatedly made headlines for hacks of Apple 's Mac OS X and Microsoft 's Internet Explorer. In 2009, for example, researcher Charlie Miller broke into a Mac in less than five seconds to win $5,000. This year, hackers will take on an iPhone 3GS, a Blackberry Bold 9700, an unspecified Nokia smartphone running the Symbian S60 platform and a Motorola, most likely a Droid, powered by Google 's Android. A successful hack must result in code execution with little to no user-interaction, according to Portnoy. Any exploited phone wins its attacker $10,000 in cash, the phone and enough points in TippingPoint's Zero Day Initiative (ZDI) bug-bounty program to qualify for another one-time payment of $5,000. But the $60,000 that TippingPoint plans to put up for the mobile part of Pwn2Own may be safe: All five smartphones in last year's contest came through unscathed . The link for this article located at CIO Magazine is no longer available. . Pwn2Own announces a total of $100,000 up for grabs in rewards for successfully hacking mobile operating systems and web browsers this year, boosting the focus on security vigilance.. Pwn2Own, Hacking Competition, Mobile Security, Browser Exploit, Cash Prizes. . Anthony Pell
Get the latest Linux and open source security news straight to your inbox.