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back to article Win 7 and smartphones targeted in Pwn2own challenge

An annual hacking challenge has put the security of browsers and smartphones in the firing line. The latest Pwn2own contest at CanSecWest next month will reportedly include challenges involving hacking into browser packages running on Windows 7 PCs and a separate contest involving breaking into next-generation smartphones. …

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  1. Jimmy Floyd
    Paris Hilton

    Right, but...

    ...how is "pwn" actually pronounced? I'm going with "poon" for the moment but that might be 'cos the word looks vaguely Welsh (you know, lack of vowels - that sort of thing).

    Paris, because I'm going to spend the rest of the afternoon wondering what pwning her would entail.

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  2. aL

    kind of random contest...

    with all the stuff thats apparently going to be installed on the machines, this isnt really a competition between OS:es imo.. if there is a vuln in flash or ff for example its likely thats its there on all platforms, making the context more about luch and the preference of the attacker than system security..

    they should have a separet contest for boxes with only the default installation and nothing else

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  3. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    @jimmy

    if the word was welsh, it would be pronounced "sheep"

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  4. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    re: Pwn

    Pwn is pronounced like "own" but with a "p". So effectively it's pronounced "pone".

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  5. frymaster

    @aL

    iirc it starts off as bare-OS, and as time passes they relax the criteria (like saying "there's a browser with xyz plugins, and we'll be visiting website abc which you control" which was quite far down the list, iirc)

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  6. matt
    Thumb Up

    RE: aL

    As I understand it...

    Day one: you're only allowed to hack the base OS with default settings

    Day two: you can also attack browsers and other usually installed software

    Day three: attack anything on the machines.

    With the prize money going down accordingly.

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  7. Anonymous Coward
    Coat

    Windoze 7 can't be pwnd

    The network stack doesn't allow connections

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  8. Jason Togneri
    Stop

    Ummm

    Am I the only person to wonder if it's valid to 'hack' a pre-release OS? Is it just me, or does this just sound really, really, stupid? If they want Windows, they should try post-release Vista SP1. An OS that isn't in final form yet is like hacking the beta of Windows Neptune. Hardly a real-life challenge.

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  9. David Eddleman
    Joke

    iPhone

    $5 says it's the first one broken into above all others.

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