"Every day, hackers around the world try and find exploits in
Web browsers and mobile platforms. Today, however, at least some
will be helping the industry.
"That's the thinking behind the third annual PWN2OWN contest,
which kicks off today at the CanSecWest conference in Vancouver,
British Columbia. There, security researchers will be looking for
vulnerabilities and profiting from them immediately -- with cold
hard cash.
"The three-day effort PWN2OWN contest isn't just about exposing
holes in software so that hackers can get a payout. Rather, the
contest is designed as a legitimate way to help vendors find and
fix security holes before they are exploited in the wild -- where
they can do real damage."
