Google Hardens Chrome Ahead of Hacking Contests

With millions of dollars on the line, Google took the smart money this week and patched Chrome ahead of today’s Pwn2Own and Pwnium competitions at the CanSecWest conference taking place this week in Vancouver.

The search and development giant fixed 10 flaws on Monday, which may help it outlast attacks as hackers compete to earn $100,000 for cracking a current version of Chrome on a Windows 7 laptop. This is in addition to the $3.14 (get it?) million that Google has offered up for their Pwnium contest, for researchers who can bust the Chrome operating system. Of the flaws patched on Monday, six of them were listed as High on the severity scale, four of those earning bounty awards of up to $2,000.

It’s unknown if Google’s move will help them beat the researchers gunning for them, but they’re not alone. Microsoft patched Internet Explorer, the low hanging fruit of the contest, and Mozilla hardened Firefox some last month too. CanSecWest has more than $500,000 up for grabs this year, so in addition to the browsers, contestants are encouraged to attack Java and Adobe products.

The big joke is that ZDI is giving away $20,000 this year free of charge, as that is the award payment for a successful exploit against Java. The joke is actually funny in a sad way, because assuming you’ve followed the news this week, last week, and last month, it’s having a bad time when it comes to security flaws.

Other prizes include $100,000 for an exploit targeting Internet Explorer 10 on Windows 8; $75,000 for an Internet Explorer exploit on Windows 7; $60,000 for a Firefox exploit on Windows 7; $65,000 for an exploit targeting Safari on OS X Mountain Lion; and $70,000 each for exploits against Flash and Reader.

Pwn2Own runs this week at CanSecWest. More information is here.