Slashdot Mirror
Hack Chrome, Win $20,000
CWmike writes "Google will pay $20,000 to the first to exploit its Chrome browser at this year's Pwn2Own hacking contest at CanSecWest in Vancouver, BC, on March 9. At this year's Pwn2Own, researchers will pit exploits against machines running Windows 7 or Mac OS X as they try to bring down Microsoft's IE, Mozilla's Firefox, Apple's Safari and Chrome. The first researchers to hack IE, Firefox and Safari will receive $15,000 and the machine running the browser. The prizes are $5,000 more than those given for exploiting browsers at the last Pwn2Own contest, and three times more than the 2009 awards. 'We've upped the ante this time around and the total cash pool allotted for prizes has risen to a whopping $125,000,' said Aaron Portnoy, the manager of the sponsor, HP TippingPoint's security research team, which set the contest's rules Wednesday in a blog post written by Portnoy."
The list of prizes includes "... the machine running the browser."
Who would be dumb enough to use a computer they won from a hacking contest?
There's no -1 for "I don't get it."
Chrome has never been hacked, which is not surprising, because the contest requires the contestant to exploit a Chrome bug and escape the sandbox while doing so. This is a far greater challenge than merely exploiting a browser bug that lets you do whatever, because if you find an exploit in Chrome the odds are high you will run into the sandbox and be stopped outright.