5th Pwn2own 2011 hacking contest: Geohot Withdraws

GeoHot was already listed for the Dell Venue Pro which is the Windows Phone 7 test model. Other listed mobile devices are: iPhone 4, Blackberry Torch 9800 running Blackberry 6 OS and android OS based Nexus S. The details on how the attacks on smartphone should be carried out are interesting too. According to Pwn2Own spokesperson:

This year we are excited to announce we have increased the attack surface eligible for a successful hack against the mobile phone targets. We will have a base station on-site so that competitors will be able to perform attacks against the cell phone basebands. Due to the sensitive nature of the vulnerabilities we expect and the fact that an attack would require the exploit to be transmitted over RF, we will have this nifty RF enclosure from Ramsey Electronics on hand for testing. This device has a built-in video recording feature and we plan on publishing the feed after the contest has ended.

Time Slots

• Apple Safari: VUPEN, Anon_07, Team Anon, Charlie Miller
• Mozilla Firefox: Sam Thomas, Anonymous_1
• Microsoft Internet Explorer: Stephen Fewer, VUPEN, Sam Thomas
• Google Chrome: Moatz Khader, Team Anon
• Apple iPhone: Anon_07, Dion Blazakis and Charlie Miller, Team Anon, Anonymous_1
• RIM Blackberry: Anonymous_1, Team Anon
• Samsung Nexus S: Jon Oberheide, Anonymous_1, Anon_07, Team Anonymous
• Dell Venue: George Hotz, Team Anonymous, Anonymous_1

Winners will get a cash prize of $15,000 USD, the device itself, and 20,000 ZDI reward points which immediately qualifies them for Silver standing that includes a one-time $5,000 USD cash payment, 15% monetary bonus on all ZDI submissions in 2011, 25% reward point bonus on all ZDI submissions in 2011 and paid travel and registration to attend the DEFCON Conference in Las Vegas.

BUT UNFORTUNATELY 

Geohot Withdraws from 5th Pwn2Own Hacking Contest

Geohot will not be participating in the upcoming 5th annual Pwn2Own hacking conferencenext week, as confirmed before. Geohot has reportedly withdrawn from the competition to focus on his ongoing legal battle against Sony for PS3 Jailbreak. Contest architect Aaron Portnoy, confirmed it in a tweet:

geohot will NOT be competing in Pwn2own. He backed out as he has to devote time to the Sony lawsuit.

Geohot was earlier enlisted to jailbreak Dell Venue Pro Windows Phone 7 device. In absence of him, team Anonymous and Anonymous_1 will attempt to hack Windows Phone 7. We will update you about upcoming pwn2own 2011 hacking contest.