Recently Google held a “hackathon” contest in Vancouver were some of the worlds brightest hackers attempted to bypass Google chrome and other similar software for a price of $60,000. Google offered the winners the price of $60,000 in exchange for all the techniques and secretes used to bypass the software. Google’s intention was to gain knowledge to fix the unknown security risks. A French security firm by the name of Vupen showed up to the contest and really made themselves known. Vupen was able to bypass all of Google’s software without breaking a sweat and after doing so refused the money. Vupen says they would never tell Google their secretes, especially not for $60,000. Vupen is a security firm that offers their hacking techniques to government agencies in exchange for a large fee. Some say that a yearly subscription to Vupen’s hacking techniques will run well over six figures. There are many people who disagree with the services Vupen and others offer. Many believe that Vupen and other companies are providing the weapons for cyber war. According to Vupen they only deal with NATO government agencies. Once there techniques leave their hands there are no guarantees the information won’t be passed on. Some of Vupen’s competitors think the company is not classy in the way they do business. Dominating a Google held contest then refusing the prize really showed Vupen’s arrogance. I think there are many other companies in the same field as Vupen that like to keep business confidential. Vupen purposely exposed themselves possibly to show competitors what can do.
Nice to know that someone shows Google a little humility when they think their all high and mighty. Personally I like the act the Vupen hacked them, it shows that they have work to do and that if they want to fix it then Google needs to figure it out on their own. I mean, a true hacker won't tell you how they did it and they would have taken much more than money.
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