Two high-profile hacking competitions in Vancouver exposed the vulnerabilities of the browsers and programs that we use everyday.
HP organised and sponsored the event ‘Pwn2Own’, and asked professional security researchers to go after products such as Adobe and Safari. Apple Safari, Google Chrome, Internet Explorer and Mozilla Firefox all fell to the teams, who earned thousands each time they found the vulnerabilities. The competition is beneficial to everyone, as the hackers practice their skills and gain prizes while the companies are informed of the weaknesses so that the issue can be solved.
Before the contest, Microsoft, Flash and Google were all updated to keep the systems secure, yet still fell short. Any further updates will have the new discoveries in mind.
