Google announces whopping $2.71 million reward for hacking Chrome OS!

Zee Media Bureau Get ready for Google`s challenge and hold your breaths! Google has reportedly announced a whopping 2.7 million dollars bounty if security experts are able to hack its Chrome browser-based OS at the Pwnium 4 hacking contest. The tech giant has informed that it will hold a contest called "Pwnium" in March, in which hackers can put their skills to the test by trying to hack into either the HP Chromebook 11 or the Acer C720 Chromebook.

The company will dole out prizes of $US110,000 ($126,000) and $US150,000 ($172,300). In total, it will pay $US2.71828 million ($3.12m), which is a reference to the mathematical constant e, a concept that`s important to know when writing algorithms. To earn the $US110,000 payouts, hackers will have to compromise Chrome OS through a web page. For the $US150,000 prize, hackers will have to compromise the computers so thoroughly through a web page that the machine is still under their control even after it has been rebooted. Those who think they can challenge Google`s security gates, can get themselves registered or can email Google at pwnium4@chromium.org. The deadline to register is close of business March 10. Successful attacks that don’t survive the reboot will still also be handsomely rewarded. Google will still pay $110,000 for a successful non-persistent hack. This year, participants will have their choice of targets. In previous Pwniums, the only targets available were Intel-based Chromebooks. This time around both HP’s ARM-based Chromebook 11 and the Acer C720 will be placed in harm’s way. Google has held such contests before as a way to entice hackers to find security holes and present them to the company upfront, rather than disturb users and the company by performing their hack at a random time. Last year Google put 3.14159 million dollars in the contest, but paid out just 40,000 dollars to a prolific hacker who goes by "Pinkie Pie," the contest`s sole participant, for what Google later called a partial exploit. Google said that it would consider larger bonuses to researchers who demonstrated a "particularly impressive or surprising exploit," like one that could circumvent kASLR, a new variant of the better-known ASLR anti-exploit technology used by Apple, Microsoft and Chrome OS. Pwnium 4 is scheduled to take place on March 12 at the Canadian Security conference in Vancouver, Canada. So hackers,get ready for some action and some serious money! With Agency inputs