Slashdot Mirror
Pwn2Own 2012 Set To Reveal More Browser Vulnerabilities Than In the Past
darthcamaro writes "In any given year, Slashdot always has stories about how a researcher hacked a browser in only a few minutes at the Pwn2own hacking challenge. This year the rules are a bit different, and instead of hackers winning for just one vulnerability, the rules allow for multiple vulnerabilities to be presented. The winner isn't the first one to hack a browser, but is the one that can hack the browser the most. 'In the past, due to the way the competition was architected, we had lots of sensationalist headlines, things like "Mac hacked in three seconds,"' said Aaron Portnoy, Manager of the Security Research Team at HP TippingPoint. 'We don't think that type of sensationalism was representative of all the research that was going on.'"
I heard that it's been the case before that discovered vulnerabilities would be kept secret so that they could be used across multiple years. This changes the incentive to reward whoever's found the most, which is what the point was all along - exposing as many vulnerabilities as possible.
I have developed a truly marvelous proof of this comment, which this signature is too narrow to contain.
The time is pretty irelevant. I mean it isn't like the hackers hadn't seen the OS's or browsers before they set foot on the floor and were going blind. That is like giving someone a sudoku puzzle a month in advance, having him do it from memory and claiming that this guy is so smart he can solve the sudoku puzzle in 30 seconds.
Actually everything is scripted, so all they have to do is launch the executable.
Still my bet is on Internet Explorer to lose again, badly.