Calling All Hackers

Mr. Hacker, where exactly were you on Friday, the 28th of March? At the TippingPoint Zero Day Initiative contest, of course. It’s a competition where computer companies and hackers can unite—and both benefit from the process.

Individuals enter the competition to use their technical skills to find flaws in computers that create vulnerability. This person is paid, gets to keep the computer they successfully “hack” and then the findings are reported back to the vendor to fix the bug. The rules originally required the hacker to break into the operating system. Vista stood tall and strong! But once a day passed with no success, the new target became any popular program that existed on the computer.

And there goes the MacBook Air, succumbing to a vulnerable Safari web browser issue. Vista went down last, with a hole in the Adobe Flash program. Exact details of the problem will not be released until it is patched up, so keep an eye out for updates!

As for the Vista winner—the guy who bust through Adobe’s doors? Shane Macaulay tried to sell his laptop on eBay just a few days later. Hours after his posting, eBay terminated the auction; the listing seemed to describe the computer as harmful to the winner—a violation of eBay’s Terms of Use. Oops! [CNet]