Google Serves Up a Half Slice of Pwnium Cash for Pinkie Pie

Depending upon your perspective, the third iteration of Google Pwnium at this year’s CanSecWest conference was either a mild failure or a huge success. No researchers were able to come up with a full compromise of the Chrome OS, the target in this year’s contest, but Google said this week that it...

PinkiePie Strikes Again, Compromises Google Chrome in Pwnium Contest at Hack in the Box

For the second time this year, an anonymous teenage security researcher has succeeded in producing a full exploit, including a sandbox escape, against Google Chrome. The researcher, who uses the pseudonym PinkiePie, submitted his exploit Wednesday during the Pwnium contest run by Google at the Ha...

As Bug Bounty Programs Mature, Still More Room For Growth

Google’s recent announcements that the company is doubling some of the rewards in its Chromium Vulnerability Reward Program and will also be committing up to $2 million for another round of the Pwnium contest in a couple of months brought a round of cheers from the security research community. Th...

Apple Fixes Serious Flaws in iOS 5.1.1

Apple has patched several serious security bugs in iOS with the release of version 5.1.1 of the mobile operating system. The most serious of the security vulnerabilities could be used for remote code execution. The highest severity vulnerability that’s fixed in iOS 5.1.1 is a WebKit flaw that can...

Six High-Risk Flaws Fixed in Google Chrome

Google has fixed nine new vulnerabilities in its Chrome browser, including six high-risk flaws. The most serious of the bugs include three separate use-after-free vulnerabilities in various parts of the browser. As part of its researcher reward program, Google paid out $5,500 in bounties for...

Google Fixes Second Set of Chrome Bugs Used in Pwnium Contest

Google has pushed out a patch for the second full sandbox escape exploit used in the Pwnium contest at CanSecWest. The Chrome vulnerabilities that the exploit targeted were discovered by an anonymous researcher who used the name PinkiePie and claimed a $60,000 reward from Google. The attack that...

Google Hands out $60k Reward for Full Chrome Compromise in Pwnium Contest

VANCOUVER–Well, that didn’t take long. Before the first session of the CanSecWest conference here even started on Wednesday, a researcher had already succeeded in scoring a full compromise of Google Chrome, using two distinct bugs, and earning himself a $60,000 reward as part of the company’s...