CanSecWest Security Conference: $10K to Hack Your SmartPhone

CanSecWest Security Conference: $10K to Hack Your SmartPhone
Author: Eric Everson

Admittedly I was not in attendance at this year’s CanSecWest Security Conference, but as CNet.com confirms big money was being offered to hackers to exploit mobile devices.

According to the article, “That innocent-looking mobile phone you use to call your mother and check e-mail represents the next frontier for malicious hackers, though it eluded researchers who stood to earn $10,000 for exploiting a smartphone at the CanSecWest security conference this week. TippingPoint Technologies, which sponsors a Pwn2Own hacking contest each year at the event, was offering the prize money for each successful exploit of an iPhone, BlackBerry, and phones running Google's Android, Windows Mobile, and Symbian operating systems.”

Masqueraded as “research” apparently we don’t have enough problems with mobile hackers, thus prize money is now being attached to hacking Mobile Operating Systems (MOPS). Having been in the mobile security industry since 2005, I found it interesting to see the apparent divide between the skill levels of computer- versus mobile-based hackers from this event. Despite the prize money the computer-based hackers merely fumbled in the streamlined MOPS environment and were ultimately unsuccessful (at the CanSecWest event) at exploiting the security vulnerabilities of the mobile devices. This, as mobile-based hackers know, is due to the approach that was used, not because these mobile platforms are impregnable.

One other interesting tidbit from the CanSecWest event (mostly because it supports my long-held position on the matter) was when the founder of the event Dragos Ruiu noted, “"I carry two phones at any one time… and now, they are more capable computers." Is this further proof that mobile devices are displacing computer futures… you know where I stand, so I’ll let you decide.

Article In Ref: Mobile: The holy grail at security conference: http://news.cnet.com/8301-1009_3-10201356-83.html

Your friend and loyal researcher of mobile security,
Eric Everson – A.K.A: “The MobileTech”

Eric Everson is a leading mobile technologies researcher and is the founder of MyMobiSafe.com. If you would like to contact Eric Everson for interview or with research related inquiries contact him directly at EricEverson@Hotmail.com.