Next week sees the opening of the CanSecWest digital security conference in Vancouver, British Columbia.
It’s also going to be host to the annual Pwn2Own contest, where a variety of computers are offered up as prizes to the first individual who can crack their way into them.
This is the fourth year of Pwn2Own and the total prize money has ballooned to US$100,000. Nice work if you can get it.
This year the browser targets are: Microsoft Internet Explorer 8 on Windows 7, Mozilla Firefox 3 on Windows 7, Google Chrome 4 on Windows 7, and Apple Safari 4 on MacOS X Snow Leopard.
There’s also a separate part of the contest aimed at mobile devices, which this year will be: an Apple iPhone 3GS, a RIM Blackberry Bold 9700, a Nokia device running Symbian S60 (probably the E62), and a Motorola phone running Android (probably a Droid).
There are some interesting omissions from the target list this year: no Ubuntu desktops? No Opera Mobile?
In 2009, the a MacBook Air was the first device to be won. Wonder how Snow Leopard will fare this year?
Giles Turnbull is a freelance writer in England. He also writes for the Press Association and The Morning News. You can find out more at his website, and follow him on Twitter @gilest.
