INTERNET EXPLORER 8 EXPLOIT REVEALED...

[soloist]

Well, that didn't take long, now did it? In Microsofts' defense, Firefox and Safari were also hacked and it was part of a competition held in Vancouver called Pwn2Own. The fastest to reveal security flaws in each browser got to keep the hardware they were working on, in this case a Sony Vaio laptop in addition to $5,500 in prize money.

Details of the exploit are being kept under wraps for now, but members of the Microsoft Security Response Team were on hand to witness the event.

-GT-



Do you think this practice
is a good idea for fin-
ding bugs in prog-
rams and hard-
ware or not?
Should ha-
ckers b-
e rew-
ard-
ed
?

[Nakor]

Yes, definitely. This isn't about them being "hackers". These aren't the guys abusing the problem to screw people over. These are the guys with the big brains, who can find the problems, and maybe even know how to fix them. They're not the bad guys.

It is of extreme value for bugs like this to be found by the software's coders before it's found by the people who are going to take advantage of the flaws. Every exploit found at that event is one less exploit that an actual hacker, virus coder, or what have you can use against you. The contest holders (TippingPoint) work with the software vendors to make sure they are aware of the exploits right away, and then work with those vendors to make the public announcements in such a way that they do not expose the exploit before it can be fixed.

This contest is a great service to anyone who uses the Internet, whether or not they participate.

[KenseidenXL]

I don't use IE8. I rarely use IE7.

[soloist]

Good point, Nakor! This way,
their skills are being put t-
o use and in a creative
(and legal) manner s-
o the both sides b-
enefit. Still usi-
ng seven as
well, but
Google
Chro-
me:

(is used more...)