Apple and Internet Explorer, Two Browsers First to Go Down in Hacking Contest

 

Apple’s Safari and Internet Explorer were the first to go down in round one of the Pwn2Own hacking contest being held at the CanSecWest Conference being held in Vancouver, B.C. I first mentioned the Pwn2Own contest in a blog last month. The contest is the brain-child of CanSecWest founder DragosRuiu. Its goal is to reward researchers that exploit vulnerabilities in hardware and software.

Analyst Charlie Miller was able to exploit a vulnerability in Apple’s Safari Browser earning him $5,000 and an Apple laptop. The exploit was actually a leftover exploit from last year that Apple never fixed. A computer science student from Oldenburg University in Germany was able to exploit Internet Explorer 8, which ran on Microsoft’s new Windows 7 operating system. The student, who wanted to remain unidentified, took home a Sony Vaio and $5,000 in cash.