Pwn2own Hacking Contest Targets Windows 7 and Smartphones

The annual hacking challenge, Pwn2own contest which will take place at the Sheraton Wall Centre hotel in downtown Vancouver, British Columbia could be a hot topic amongst hackers and digital security industry players lately. This interesting hacking contest is amongst the highlights of the 10th CanSeeWest Conference and the focus this year is slightly different compared to previous year’s contest.

The upcoming Pwn2own contest will have two separate hacking competitions. The first hacking challenge will require participants to hack or expose the vulnerabilities of browser packages such as IE8, Firefox 3 and Safari which run on the computers operated under Windows 7. The second contest will involve hacking into smartphones running either Microsoft’s Windows Mobile, Google’s Android, Symbian or Apple’s iPhone operating system.

Details of the rules and regulations for the competition as well as the prizes have yet to be announced. However, the organizer has revealed that 3Com’s TippingPoint security division will sponsor both the hacking contests.