back to article Pwn2Own 2012 touts bigger prizes, drops mobile hacks

Organisers of security conference CanSecWest have changed the rules for the next outing of its Pwn2Own computer hacking contest. The prize money will be increased, but smartphone hacks have been dropped from the competition. Instead Pwn2Own will challenge security researchers to develop browser exploits in order to hack into …

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  1. JDX Gold badge

    <Opera>

    Mandatory to mention how Opera is so great and excluded since nobody could ever possible hack it, etc.

    1. asdf
      Mushroom

      really?

      I thought it was more because their .0001 market share on the desktop rounds down to zero to most reporting outfits.

    2. Thunderbird 2
      Joke

      Nah the prize for hacking opera is a Tenor, maybe 3 Tenor's if you're lucky

    3. This post has been deleted by its author

    4. ElReg!comments!Pierre

      <excluded>

      In the case of Opera I think it's down to the cut-off you use for "major". They didn't include Netsurf or Dillo either.

      On the other hand, they DID exclude Linux, since last year, didn't they... on the rather flimsy basis that it is not used on the desktop but only on servers. When asked about the date, Portnoy answered "1995, of course, why would you ask?"

      1. Ammaross Danan
        Coat

        Opera

        Might as well throw in lynx, links, or elinks while you're at it.

        I once surfed the web on telnet. GET / was my friend.

        1. ElReg!comments!Pierre
          Pint

          @ Ammaross Danan

          I think you forgot w3m. It wouldn't be fair actually, these are HTML parsers, not "browsers" in the current acceptation of the term*. Yes, I do know it also somewhat applies to Netsurf and Dillo -that I earlier proposed- but I'm not one to stop at such a contradiction. About telnet, 1) I call bollocks and 2) it's not actually a very safe thing to do...

          *I actually mean it as a compliment. I do surf the web using text-mode browsers, quite a lot.

        2. P. Lee
          Headmaster

          GET / ?

          Pah!

          When I was young, we did SSL using telnet over an RFC 1149 link, in t' snow!

          And we were glad of it!

          1. Tom 13
            Windows

            Well when I WAS young,

            we didn't even HAVE SSL. We used an acoustic coupler and were glad of it.

    5. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Interestingly...

      Aaron Portnoy the organiser of Pwn2Own is a Opera user himself.

      Clearly he knows why Opera is the best browser, and also knows why to exclude it.

  2. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Well....

    They're going to have an easy job hacking Windows and IE - everyone else has so far!

    1. Ammaross Danan
      Coat

      Last I checked....

      ....OSX running Safari was the first to get p0wned the last few times....

  3. Mediocrates
    Trollface

    Not serious

    What, no OpenBSD?!

    Hacking Windows and Mac boxes via web browsers is like walking a tightrope laid on the ground.

    1. ElReg!comments!Pierre
      Trollface

      In soviet Russia, OpenBSD runs you.

  4. Gordon 10

    No mobes?

    Seems a bit shortsighted given the increasing use of smartphones and the relative ease that flaws can be monetized by premium SMSes and the like.

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