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Category — hacking competition
Windows, Ubuntu, Zoom, Safari, MS Exchange Hacked at Pwn2Own 2021

Windows, Ubuntu, Zoom, Safari, MS Exchange Hacked at Pwn2Own 2021

Apr 12, 2021
The 2021 spring edition of  Pwn2Own  hacking contest concluded last week on April 8 with a three-way tie between Team Devcore, OV, and Computest researchers Daan Keuper and Thijs Alkemade. A total of $1.2 million was awarded for 16 high-profile exploits over the course of the three-day virtual event organized by the Zero Day Initiative (ZDI). Targets with successful attempts included Zoom, Apple Safari, Microsoft Exchange, Microsoft Teams, Parallels Desktop, Windows 10, and Ubuntu Desktop operating systems. Some of the major highlights are as follows — Using an authentication bypass and a local privilege escalation to completely take over a Microsoft Exchange server, for which the Devcore team netted $200,000 Chaining a pair of bugs to achieve code execution in Microsoft Teams, earning researcher OV $200,000 A zero-click exploit targeting Zoom that employed a three-bug chain to exploit the messenger app and gain code execution on the target system. ($200,000) The exploitation
The Incident Response Challenge 2020 — Win $5,000 Prize!

The Incident Response Challenge 2020 — Win $5,000 Prize!

Apr 21, 2020
Cybersecurity firm Cynet today announced the launch of a first of its kind challenge to enable Incident Response professionals to test their skills with 25 forensic challenges that were built by top researchers and analysts. The challenge is available on https://incident-response-challenge.com/ and is open to anyone willing to test his or her investigation skills, between April 21st and May 15th. What's more interesting is that there's a USD 5000 prize for the first-place winner of the challenge. Forensic investigation is at the core of any IR processes and provides the critical path from the initial stage of suspicion or limited attack view to the concrete and actionable knowledge on the attack's root cause and the impact that is essential for recovery and restore operations. The challenge of the incident responder is to identify and collect the scattered traces the attackers have left them and connect the dots to understand the how, what, and where of the atta
Cyber Story Time: The Boy Who Cried "Secure!"

Cyber Story Time: The Boy Who Cried "Secure!"

Nov 21, 2024Threat Detection / Pentesting
As a relatively new security category, many security operators and executives I've met have asked us "What are these Automated Security Validation (ASV) tools?" We've covered that pretty extensively in the past, so today, instead of covering the " What is ASV?" I wanted to address the " Why ASV?" question. In this article, we'll cover some common use cases and misconceptions of how people misuse and misunderstand ASV tools daily (because that's a lot more fun). To kick things off, there's no place to start like the beginning. Automated security validation tools are designed to provide continuous, real-time assessment of an organization's cybersecurity defenses. These tools are continuous and use exploitation to validate defenses like EDR, NDR, and WAFs. They're more in-depth than vulnerability scanners because they use tactics and techniques that you'll see in manual penetration tests. Vulnerability scanners won't relay hashes or combine vulnerabilities to further attacks, whic
How to transform your revolutionary idea into a reality: $100K Nokia Bell Labs Prize

How to transform your revolutionary idea into a reality: $100K Nokia Bell Labs Prize

Apr 15, 2020
Revolutionary ideas in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics don't occur every day. But when those "eureka" moments happen, we need to provide a forum to explore those ideas, judge them on their merits, and distinguish the extraordinary from the merely good. Once a year, Nokia Bell Labs makes that forum a reality, where robust proposals that have the potential to revolutionize the future of human experience are presented and debated. If you think your idea could be one of them, the Nokia Bell Labs Prize is for you. Solving challenges that connect humans, systems, things, infrastructure, or processes, the 2020 Nokia Bell Labs Prize is an opportunity for innovators around the world to collaborate with world-renowned Nokia Bell Labs researchers and transform their ideas into prototypes of the future. What kind of ideas are we talking about? Big, bold, and bordering on audacious, they should have far-reaching, humanity-changing implications. Previous
cyber security

Creating, Managing and Securing Non-Human Identities

websitePermisoCybersecurity / Identity Security
A new class of identities has emerged alongside traditional human users: non-human identities (NHIs). Permiso Security's new eBook details everything you need to know about managing and securing non-human identities, and strategies to unify identity security without compromising agility.
0-Days Found in iPhone X, Samsung Galaxy S9, Xiaomi Mi6 Phones

0-Days Found in iPhone X, Samsung Galaxy S9, Xiaomi Mi6 Phones

Nov 15, 2018
At Pwn2Own 2018 mobile hacking competition held in Tokyo on November 13-14, white hat hackers once again demonstrated that even the fully patched smartphones running the latest version of software from popular smartphone manufacturers can be hacked. Three major flagship smartphones—iPhone X, Samsung Galaxy S9, and Xiaomi Mi6—were among the devices that successfully got hacked at the annual mobile hacking contest organized by Trend Micro's Zero Day Initiative (ZDI), earning white hat hackers a total of $325,000 in reward. Teams of hackers participated from different countries or representing different cybersecurity companies disclosed a total of 18 zero-day vulnerabilities in mobile devices made by Apple, Samsung, and Xiaomi, as well as crafted exploits that allowed them to completely take over the targeted devices. Apple iPhone X Running iOS 12.1 — GOT HACKED! A team of two researchers, Richard Zhu and Amat Cama, who named themselves Fluoroacetate, discovered and managed to
Hackers Take Over US Voting Machines In Just 90 Minutes

Hackers Take Over US Voting Machines In Just 90 Minutes

Jul 31, 2017
Image Credit: @tjhorner Today, election hacking is not just about hacking voting machines, rather it now also includes hacking and leaking dirty secrets of the targeted political parties—and there won't be a perfect example than the last year's US presidential election . But, in countries like America, even hacking electronic voting machines is possible—that too, in a matter of minutes. Several hackers reportedly managed to hack into multiple United States voting machines in a relatively short period—in some cases within minutes, and in other within a few hours—at Def Con cybersecurity conference held in Las Vegas this week. Citing the concern of people with the integrity and security of American elections , for the first time, Def Con hosted a " Voting Machine Village " event, where tech-savvy attendees tried to hack some systems and help catch vulnerabilities. Voting Machine Village provided 30 different pieces of voting equipment used in American election
The Project Zero Contest — Google will Pay you $200,000 to Hack Android OS

The Project Zero Contest — Google will Pay you $200,000 to Hack Android OS

Sep 14, 2016
Why waiting for researchers and bug hunters to know vulnerabilities in your products, when you can just throw a contest for that. Google has launched its own Android hacking contest with the first prize winner receiving $200,000 in cash. That's a Hefty Sum! The contest is a way to find and destroy dangerous Android vulnerabilities before hackers exploit them in the wild. The competition, dubbed ' The Project Zero Prize ,' is being run by Google's Project Zero, a team of security researchers dedicated to documenting critical bugs and making the web a safer place for everyone. What's the Requirements? Starting Tuesday and ending on March 14, 2017, the contest will only award cash prizes to contestants who can successfully hack any version of Android Nougat on Nexus 5X and 6P devices. However, the catch here is that Google wants you to hack the devices knowing only the devices' phone numbers and email addresses. For working of their exploits, contes
DARPA Challenges Hackers to Create Automated Hacking System — WIN $2 Million

DARPA Challenges Hackers to Create Automated Hacking System — WIN $2 Million

Jul 14, 2016
Why we can't detect all security loopholes and patch them before hackers exploit them? Because... we know that humans are too slow at finding and fixing security bugs, which is why vulnerabilities like Heartbleed , POODLE and GHOST remained undetected for decades and rendered almost half of the Internet vulnerable to theft by the time patches were rolled out. Now to solve this hurdle, DARPA has come up with an idea: To build a smart Artificial Intelligence System that will automatically detect and even patch security flaws in a system. Isn't it a revolutionary idea for Internet Security? The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has selected seven teams of finalists who will face off in a historic battle, as each tries to defend themselves and find out flaws without any human control. The DARPA Cyber Grand Challenge will be held at the annual DEF CON hacking conference in Las Vegas next month. Must Read : Artificial Intelligence System that can detec
Pornhub Launches Bug Bounty Program; Offering Reward up to $25,000

Pornhub Launches Bug Bounty Program; Offering Reward up to $25,000

May 11, 2016
With the growing number of cyber attacks and data breaches, a significant number of companies and organizations have started Bug Bounty Programs to encourage hackers and security researchers to find and responsibly report bugs in their services and get a reward. Now, even pornography sites are starting to embrace bug bounty practices in order to safeguard its user's security. The world's most popular pornography site PornHub has launched a bug bounty program for security researchers and bug hunters who can find and report security vulnerabilities in its website. Partnered with HackerOne, PornHub is offering to pay independent security researchers and bug hunters between $50 and $25,000, depending upon the impact of vulnerabilities they find. Also Read: 10-year-old Boy becomes the youngest Bug Bounty Hacker . HackeOne is a bug bounty startup that operates bug bounty programs for companies including Yahoo, Twitter, Slack, Dropbox, Uber, General Motors – and even th
Facebook Open Sources its Capture the Flag (CTF) Platform

Facebook Open Sources its Capture the Flag (CTF) Platform

May 11, 2016
Hacking into computer, networks and websites could easily land you in jail. But what if you could freely test and practice your hacking skills in a legally safe environment? Facebook just open-sourced its Capture The Flag (CTF) platform to encourage students as well as developers to learn about cyber security and secure coding practices. Capture the Flag hacking competitions are conducted at various cyber security events and conferences, including Def Con, in order to highlight the real-world exploits and cyber attacks. The CTF program is an effective way of identifying young people with exceptional computer skills, as well as teaching beginners about common and advanced exploitation techniques to ensure they develop secure programs that cannot be easily compromised. Facebook  CTF Video Demo: Since 2013, Facebook has itself hosted CTF competitions at events across the world and now, it is opening the platform to masses by releasing its source code on GitHub. "
Hack the Pentagon — US Government Challenges Hackers to Break its Security

Hack the Pentagon — US Government Challenges Hackers to Break its Security

Mar 03, 2016
Update: ' Hack The Pentagon ' has opened registration for its pilot bug bounty program of $150,000 for hackers in return for the vulnerabilities they find in its public facing websites. The Defense Department has enlisted the bug bounty startup HackerOne to manage the pilot program. Interested hackers can Register Now to participate in the Bug Bounty program. The United States Department of Defense (DoD) has the plan to boost their internal and network security by announcing what it calls "the first cyber Bug Bounty Program in the history of the federal government," officially inviting hackers to take up the challenge. Dubbed " Hack the Pentagon ," the bug bounty program invites the hackers and security researchers only from the United States to target its networks as well as the public faced websites which are registered under DoD. The bug bounty program will begin in April 2016, and the participants could win money (cash rewards)
Next Hacker to Organize Biggest Java Programming Competition In Germany

Next Hacker to Organize Biggest Java Programming Competition In Germany

Jan 16, 2016
Great news for Hackers and Bug-hunters who enjoy Programming and playing around with Software. A worldwide group of like-minded computer programmers is hosting The Next Hacker IPPC event on the 26th and 27th of February in Berlin, Germany, where participants can meet hackers and programmers from around the world while getting an opportunity to participate in one of the major hacking-related events in history. Yes, The Next Hacker is inviting Java programmers to participate in its International Programming Player Competition (IPPC) , which is going to be held on the second day of the event, i.e., 27th of February. The first day of 2016 IPPC event will offer technical sessions on programming, an open panel discussion with renowned hackers and programmers, as well as an opportunity for the world's top programmers to meet leading high-tech companies worldwide. The Next Hacker is an outstanding programming event with more than 5,000 attendees – no less than 3,000 c
Chrome, Firefox, Safari and IE – All Browsers Hacked at Pwn2Own Competition

Chrome, Firefox, Safari and IE – All Browsers Hacked at Pwn2Own Competition

Mar 22, 2015
The Annual Pwn2Own Hacking Competition  2015 held in Vancouver is over and participants from all over the world nabbed $557,500 in bug bounties for 21 critical bugs in top four web browsers as well as Windows OS, Adobe Reader and Adobe Flash. During the second and final day of this year's hacking contest, the latest version of all the four major browsers including Microsoft Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome, and Apple Safari, were compromised by the two security researchers. Sponsored by HP's Zero Day Initiative program, the Pwn2Own Hacking Competition ran two days at a security conference in Vancouver, Canada. The final highlights for Pwn2Own 2015 are quite impressive: 5 bugs in the Windows operating system 4 bugs in Internet Explorer 11 3 bugs in Mozilla Firefox 3 bugs in Adobe Reader 3 bugs in Adobe Flash 2 bugs in Apple Safari 1 bug in Google Chrome $557,500 USD bounty paid out to researchers The star of the show was South Korean secur
The Keen Team - Chinese Hacker Group Reveals their Identities

The Keen Team - Chinese Hacker Group Reveals their Identities

Apr 17, 2014
The Keen Team – a mysterious group of Chinese hackers who hacked Apple's Safari Mac OS X Mavericks system in just 20 seconds and Windows 8.1. Adobe Flash in only 15 seconds during Pwn2Own Hacking Competition this year, are no more mysterious as the team revealed its members identity. In an interview with a Chinese newspaper on this 13 April, the key member of the Keen team and co-founder as well as chief operating officer of the team's Shanghai-based parent company, Lv Yiping said half of his team members are the top scoring students in the national college entrance examination, half of them are majored in mathematics, and half are from Microsoft. He also added that the team's eight core members are the top hackers in the country. The Kean team is the first Chinese hackers group to have won the prestigious title at the world hacking contest held in Vancouver this year in March. Back in 2013, they also took part in the Mobile Pwn2Own contest held in Tokyo and succe
Hacker's Dome - Gamification the Information Security

Hacker's Dome - Gamification the Information Security

Mar 28, 2014
When it comes to Information Security, there's a great way to learn, train and keep sharp your skills. This can be done using gamification mechanics to speed up the learning curve and improve retention rate. Capture The Flag competitions use gamification mechanics and represent one of the best ways to learn security hands on. The Infosec team behind Capture The Flag platform  CTF365  has created a place for hackers to play weekend CTFs with great prizes, called  Hacker's Dome . In order to access the Hacker's Dome, you need is a registered and confirmed CTF365 account.  At Hacker's Dome CTF Platform users can deploy their own CTFs and can invite web developers, system administrators and security professionals to take hard challenges. Think RackSpace, of CTF Competitions. Hacker's Dome - First Blood:  First Blood is the first CTF and will start on May 17 2014 15:00 UTC and winners will win more than $6000 in prizes . If Information Security  gamific
Cisco Offers $300,000 Prize For 'Internet of Things' Security Apps

Cisco Offers $300,000 Prize For 'Internet of Things' Security Apps

Mar 03, 2014
In the last few years, this emerging domain for the  Internet of Things  has been attracting the significant interest, and will continue for the years to come. It would be a $20 Trillion Market over the next several years, but Security and privacy are the key issues for such applications, and still face some enormous challenges. Cisco has announced a global and industry-wide initiative to bring the Security community and Researchers together to contribute in securing the Internet of Things (IoT) and launched a contest called the " Internet of Things Grand Security Challenge ", offering prizes of up to $300,000  for winners. Since Smart devices are growing at an exponential pace with increase in connecting devices embedded in cars, retail systems, refrigerators, televisions and countless other things people use in everyday life and is expected to grow to 50 billion by 2020. So, in an effort to deliver the security solutions necessary to protect the increasing range of
Google announces $2.7 million Reward for hacking Chrome OS at Pwnium Contest

Google announces $2.7 million Reward for hacking Chrome OS at Pwnium Contest

Jan 27, 2014
Pwnium is the annual Hacking competition where Google invites coders from around the world to find security holes in Google Chrome. Google has announced its 4th Pwnium Hacking Contest hosted at the Canadian Security conference in March, offering more than $2.7 million in potential rewards for hacking Chrome OS-running ARM and Intel Chromebook. This year the security researchers have a choice in between an ARM-based Chromebook, the HP Chromebook 11 (WiFi) and the Acer C720 Chromebook (2GB WiFi) based on Intel's Haswell microarchitecture . The attack must be demonstrated against one of these devices running " then-current " stable version of Chrome OS. " Security is a core tenet of Chromium, which is why we hold regular competitions to learn from security researchers. Contests like Pwnium help us make Chromium even more secure ," Jorge Lucángeli Obes, Google Security Engineer said. Amongst the payouts are $110,000 for the browser or s
Warm up your keyboard for Facebook Hacker Cup 2013

Warm up your keyboard for Facebook Hacker Cup 2013

Jan 09, 2013
Dear Hackers, Warm up your keyboards! Because Facebook open Registration for third Hacker Cup 2013, an annual worldwide programming competition where hackers compete against each other for fame, fortune, glory and a shot at the title of world champion, with $5,000 top prize. The qualification round begins on January 25th. So Participate and enhance your programming competency. The dates have been set for Facebook Hacker Cup 2013 Jan 7 — Jan 27 — Registration Jan 25 — Jan 27 — Online Qualification Round Feb 2 — Online Elimination Round 1 Feb 9 — Online Elimination Round 2 Feb 16 — Online Elimination Round 3 March 22 -23 — Onsite Finals at Facebook Registrations Page -  https://www.facebook.com/hackercup/register This is your chance to compete against the world's best programmers for awesome prizes and the title of World Champion.
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