Apple Safari To Give Up First In Hacking Contest

Industry experts have predicted that Apple's Safari web browser will be the first to succumb at next month's Pwn2Own hacking challenge in Vancouver.

The event sees hackers from the world over take a crack at the latest web browsers and operating systems available and win prize money according to the nature of the attack.

The competition, which is now in its fourth year, has attracted some of the best hackers and security experts from around the world to come and test the security of web browsers and operating systems.

Pwn2Own, which is sponsored by HP's 3Com's TippingPoint, is organised by Aaron Portnoy, a team leader at the company, who also predicted that Apple Safari will be the first browser to fall prey to hacks, owing to its previous performance at the competition.

Hackers competing at Pwn2Own have managed to hack Apple's Mac OS X and Safari, as well as Microsoft's Windows, Internet Explorer (IE) browser and Mozilla Firefox browser running on Windows Vista in the past.

In 2009, security researcher Charlie Miller, who works as a principal analyst at Independent Security Evaluators, had succeeded in hacking a Mac in less than 5 seconds through the Safari browser to win $5000.

He again won $10000 in 2009 for hacking into MacBook Air in under 5 minutes by exploiting a Safari vulnerability.