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Software

Chrome survives hackers in annual browser bash

By Jose Vilches, TechSpot.com
Published: March 23, 2009, 10:52 AM EST
The third annual Pwn2Own security competition, which challenges hackers and security experts to find vulnerabilities in web browsers and mobile devices, has come to a close taking its usual share of victims. As noted last week, Safari was compromised in less than 10 seconds using a prepared exploit while Firefox and IE were taken down shortly thereafter. Google’s Chrome browser, however, was the only one left standing – despite rules of the contest being relaxed on day two to make the attacks easier.

Previous Pwn2Own champion Charlie Miller said that, although he did find a security hole in Google's browser, he was unable to exploit it because of Chrome's sandboxing feature and Windows 7 security measures together pose a formidable challenge. Notably, on the mobile side of things, BlackBerry, Windows Mobile, Android and iPhone also emerged unscathed.

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User Comments (3)

Post a comment
oinari
on March 23, 2009
11:27 PM
That's interesting. I wonder if the Firefox used had any add-ons and if Safari was running on windows.

tengeta
on March 24, 2009
1:21 AM
No, not only was Safari penetrated, the fully updated MacBook Pro with Leopard on it went with it.

It was because of Safari though. And to be fair, its not like IE isn't causing Windows any problems... LOL.

As for the Firefox, I have no idea. It has grown in vulnerability due to its market share though, I can tell ya that.

x darthmonkey x
on March 24, 2009
6:25 AM
Firefox grows in vulnerability as it grows in complexity, them's the works. But it's almost to be expected at this point, software has vulnerabilities. Honestly, I'm not surprised at all - impressed, yes - that Safari on OSX went down so fast. While it doesn't fully prove it, this event shows that OSX is not necessarily "better" than Windows. And I REALLY don't want to get into a bashing war right now... so let's just please leave it at that.

In the end, I'm really surprised... score a point for Chrome.

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