Pwn2Own 2011 Day One

Fully updated versions of Internet Explorer 8 and Safari 5 were beaten at Pwn2Own day 1.  As many techies may know, Pwn2Own is an annual event held at the CanSecWest security conference. It is a testing ground for web browsers, operating systems, and portable devices to have their mettle tested against some of the best hackers.

The basic idea is Microsoft, Mozilla, and Apple bring very, very nice laptops with their browser installed. The hacker, who signed up to attack a certain box, then goes into full assault mode to break the security. They must then demonstrate a level of control over the laptop in question like launching the calculator to show they can load a program.  This year they must also show they have moved beyond the sandbox environment a browser attempts to maintain by writing a file directly to the disk. Once you can prove these two feats, the laptop is yours to keep. The $15,000 cash prizes for day one takedowns are nice too if you are into that sorta thing.

Before you Chrome users jump for joy about your browser holding its ground at Pwn2Own, the individual assigned to attack it did not show up for day one. This may be due to Google releasing an update for Chrome patching 23 known security issues the day before the event. I for one do not think this is a coincidence on the part of Google.

TV would have you believe hackers can break into your bank account’s security in 60 seconds, but it is quite a different story in real life. Finding a security weakness can take hours or even days of searching. Turning that weakness into a workable security hack usually takes weeks. While I enjoy reading about how these hackers worked their magic, I am still a little upset that Opera is never included. I will keep you up to date about what happens when the smartphones are put on the chopping block.

Source: Ars Technica