Whether you’re talking about Chrome, Firefox, Internet Explorer, or Safari, none of your favorite browsers escaped unscathed when some of the world’s best digital security consultants congregated at Pwn2Own, a hacking competition held during this week’s security-focused CanSecWest conference in Vancouver. The participants in the tournament found and demonstrated exploits in each browser during the event, while racking up cash prizes doled out for successful efforts.
According to PCWorld, this year’s big winner was French outfit Vupen, which zeroed in on vulnerabilities in several programs including a exploit that would allow an attacker to bypass Chrome’s security measures. Vupen also hacked their way into Internet Explorer 11, Firefox, Adobe Flash and Adobe Reader, with Chaouki Bekrar, the group’s founder, earning close to $400,000.
Meanwhile, infamous hacker George Hotz, AKA Geohot, demoed his ability to pull off a remote code execution exploit in Firefox. Various teams also showed off remote code execution exploits, which would permit an attacker to take control of their victim’s computer using browsers like Safari and IE, as well as commonly used software like Adobe Flash Player and Adobe Reader. All told, software-makers awarded $850,000 in prize money to competitors over the two-day competition.
Not everybody does it just for the cash, though. A charity-focused hacking tournament dubbed Pwn4Fun pitted Google security consultants against members of Hewlett-Packard’s DVLabs Zero Day Initiative, or ZDI. Between the IE vulnerabilities found by ZDI and the Safari exploits the Google team used, the pair managed to raise $82,500 for the Canadian Red Cross.
Mozilla is giving Firefox’s Smart Window two new tricks. If you haven’t tried it yet, Smart Window is an optional AI mode in Firefox with a built-in chat that helps you get things done while you browse. With this update, it can fill out online forms using details from your tabs and keep an eye on websites for you.
Tired of typing the same details into every form?
The absolutely absurd idea of putting a touchscreen display on a mouse isn't exactly new. Turtle Beach already did it with its Command Series MC7, which features a 2.25-inch control screen. But apparently, even that wasn't ridiculous enough for Arctic Fox Technologies. Its new Super Mouse looks like someone took the chunky old Atari ST mouse, slapped a touchscreen and scroll wheel on it, and called it an upgrade.
The result is a rather unusual-looking mouse that is now on Kickstarter, starting at $199. And as ridiculous as it looks, some of its features are genuinely intriguing.
Apple is less than a day away from launching its highly anticipated OLED MacBook Pro with a touch-sensitive screen. But it appears that the upgrade is going to cost a pretty penny. According to a report by Bloomberg, Apple is reportedly eyeing a starting price of $2,899 for the 14-inch MacBook Pro, while the 16-inch version could start at $3,399 in the US.
"At $2,899, the 14-inch model would mark the highest starting price for a new MacBook Pro model, surpassing the $2,799 Apple charged for a 17-inch version introduced in 2006," says the report. The report claims that Apple is targeting a minimum price hike of $400 for its upcoming redesigned 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models.