“The Pwn2own hacking challenge, sponsored by HP TippingPoint has
emerged as one of the pre-eminent security events in any given
calendar year. Security researchers compete to see who can hack web
browsers and mobile platforms with cash and prizes up for
grabs.“This year more money than ever will be on this line for
researchers that specifically target Chrome, though Firefox, IE and
Safari are still in researchers’ crosshairs. Google is putting up
$20,000 for Chrome vulnerabilities, while the total contest prize
pool is approximately $125,000. Mobile platforms are also set to be
targeted as researchers go beyond just the operating system to take
aim at the underlying hardware as well. Researchers will also be
going after the most secure aspects of browser security in an
effort to demonstrate vulnerabilities.”