Hack Google Chrome, Get $1 Million

Google on Monday withdrew as a sponsor of next month's Pwn2Own hacking contest, and will instead put as much as $1 million up for grabs if researchers can exploit Chrome.

The company will run its own exploit challenge at the CanSecWest security conference, the venue for Pwn2Own, because it objected to what it said was a change in the rules by contest organizer and prime sponsor, HP TippingPoint's bug-bounty program, Zero Day Initiative (ZDI).

"We decided to withdraw our sponsorship when we discovered that contestants are permitted to enter Pwn2Own without having to reveal full exploits, or even all of the bugs used, to vendors," said Chris Evans and Justin Schuh, two members of the Chrome security team, in a Monday post to the Chromium blog. "Full exploits have been handed over in previous years, but it's an explicit non-requirement in this year's contest, and that's worrisome."

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