Hack a Mac, get $10,000
TippingPoint, which runs the Zero Day Initiative bug bounty program, is offering to pay $10,000 to the hacker who commandeers one of two MacBooks.
Two MacBooks wait to be hacked at CanSecWest in Vancouver, B.C.
(Credit: CNET News.com/Joris Evers)VANCOUVER, B.C.--The prize in the hack-a-Mac contest at the CanSecWest conference here just got bigger.
TippingPoint, which runs the Zero Day Initiative bug bounty program, is offering to pay $10,000 to the hacker who commandeers one of two MacBooks. The target computers are connected to a wireless access point and fully patched, including the update for 25 vulnerabilities that Apple released on Thursday.
Originally a successful hack would be rewarded with the MacBook. There had been some rumblings among event attendees that the reward was not big enough to draw interest. To qualify for the $10,000 a successful attack has to be carried out with a new, yet-to-be-patched vulnerability, a TippingPoint representative at CanSecWest said.
CanSecWest organizers have set up the MacBooks with all security updates, but without additional security software or settings. Attendees are able to connect to the machines via the access point through Ethernet or Wi-Fi.
