Anti-Piracy Company Issues $40k Hacker Challenge
Hackers, crackers, and other top coders can make some quick bucks in the near future. An anti-piracy software company is challenging the hacker community for the second time to crack its product.WIBU-Systems USA, Inc. will give $40,000 to the first person who can hack into and remove their anti-piracy software from a protected application. Techies will have six weeks to try, starting Jan. 31. Registration for the challenge kicks off at MacWorld Expo next week in San Francisco.
“We’re saying to the hackers of the world, ‘You’ve been boasting that you can remove anti-privacy systems. Here’s a chance to earn bragging rights and take home 40,000 bucks if you’re as good as you think you are,” says John Poulson, VP of business development at WIBU-Systems, a German-based company with U.S. headquarters in Seattle.
Poulson says he’s feeling pretty confidant their software can stand up to the pressure. The company has issued the challenge before with a previous product — that time offering $4,000. He says no one broke the software so no one took home the money.
“This is 10 times more secure, so we’re offering 10 times the prize money. And to be honest, if somebody can [break the security software], it would be worth it to know how they did it and maybe give them a job,” he adds laughing. “If they have a few more points on their IQ, we’d like to have them on board.”
To get this kind wide ranging testing done, Poulson says it would be well worth spending the $40,000. “If you’ve produced software that will tell an oil company where to drill a well, you wouldn’t want the rascals in Albania using that for free when you can sell it for $100,000,” he says, adding that they need their software to be able to protect those kinds of applications.
Registered challengers will receive an application protected with the latest WIBU-Systems anti-piracy software, along with a full software developer kit. “They can see how the software security system is put together,” says Poulson. “We think our system is so secure that even knowing that they won’t be able to bust through it.”
The challenge will start at 6 p.m. on Jan 31 and will run till 5:59 p.m. on March 14.
Comments(35)
It’s a trap!
to take them down?
Boycott this crap. Its an attempt to cheaply find out what anti-piracy systems are hard to crack. 40 grand is a small price to pay for this information. Wait until actual material is put on the market, then try and crack it. That way its too late for the company to change.
and you call it a trap?
its not a trap when they are admitting it themself man..
the anonymous post #3 is very insightful.
this clearly is a cheap way for the company to audit their security solution. of course it can be broken.
It’s called testing/inviting testing, with the incentive of cash prize ya dumb shmucks. Trap… when they openly want people to try to break in *roll eyes*
None of the above, it’s advertising so they can brag to customers no hacker could do crack their protection even when offered 40 grand.
#3 Boycott? Hahaha that is the dumbest thing ive heard
Yeah 40 grand is a small amount for the company, but what hacker is going to boycott the prize money. If one can do it, easy 40 grand in your pocket, who cares what company achieves. If you dont do it, someone else will.
anything can be hacked…..
this is the universal truth people….
this indeed is a test for the company in question…
Mr. Poulson be careful what u ask for…
cause their are alot of itchy fingers out there…
if i could crack it i would never do it for 40k
if u find a weaknes they just remove it, then they offer another 40k to find another weaknes. and so on untill there isnt any more
yea only fucking dusche hackers do that shit thats why no one ever cracks it espacily if you have to use their systems AND or go some where to do it if you just let any one do it at home i can guarrunte in undera month if its actuly protecting a product thats semi usefull it can be cracked
What’s his freakin problem with Albanians anyway?
And if he actually paid a pro to have shiet tested, it’s cost a lot more that $40K
It’s a marketing exercise….
But we all knew that, right?
yeah i really see this one : “hi i’m a hacker and i would my application for entering this challenge”…what u say my name address and a list of thing’s i’ve cracked, oh and all the pay-pal accounts, the cc’s i got from piracy..sure it’s all worth 40k lol
lol, 40k and a high paying job, i don’t know personally i wouldn’t complain… just crack it again when they make their next offer
it’s all a marketing ploy
/ignore
“if i could crack it i would never do it for 40k”
liar, liar, pants on fire…
If you say you wouldn’t do it for $40K then you know you have absolutely no chance of cracking it.
If I could, I would with no hesitation!
sounds a good deal, and the idea you are admitting to hacking is a silly one. Being a hacker isn’t illegal. All the best programmers in the world can be described as hackers.
They aren’t looking for a Hacker. They are looking for Crackers. Somedays, I wish they would just get the terminology correct.
hopefully the best crackers wont try until they release it so they cant change it..
$40K???….
why would I settle for that. If i can crack it and sell it to a competing company, i can get far more than that.
This is bullshit. Security is not about contests, assertion about the “lack of flaw..”
It’s not about obscurity, and it’s certainly has nothing to do with the inability of an attacker to find/exploit a vulnerability or logic error. Just because the “hackers” that sign up for this contest don’t find anything — even if there are billions of entrants….it doesn’t mean anything. Bottom line – even if the application is somewhat/decently secure….the underlying operating system and memory contents are not properly protected. An application, no matter how logical, correctly, and properly it is written…is by definition NOT secure if it resides and depends on an insecure unerlying operating system and a base that is not trustworthy.
^ you dont seem to have any idea about what you’re talking about. And i dont see why any cracker wouldn’t take part on that, it isn’t like they own you something.
@lol -> are you referencing my comment or someone else’s?
As for taking part or not taking part — i don’t really care who does or does not. My thoughts are that this “flashy” stunt has nothing to do with proving or disproving that a piece of code is secure or “unbreakable.” If you’d like some fundamental literature to read……I can provide links to some white papers from the smartest guys you’ve never heard of that might change your mind and the way you think about secure code.
I know anything isn’t unbreakable, but fact is that the best protections out there take too much time to break, so crackers just quit it. Cracking of todays protections is solely based on the fact that they have been already broken and development of them have been followed for years (ie. on some new games -> a slighty updated protection). All of the current protections have been around for many years already, and even tho their development has been possible to follow, cracking the newest versions of securom 7 and starforce 4 pro takes weeks, usually months with each game. If it takes that long to break protection of something you already know, what are the odds that crackers can break some new at least almost as good protection in 6 weeks? And also because of the $40000, I highly doubt that other crackers will post any information about the protection on cracker forums and at the same time giving advantage to others.
zomg HAX!!!! ^_^
Matty, please provide above mentioned links to info relating to codes…
cheers mate
40k? hahahahaha…. Give me “break”..
sofware companies dont understand. to defeat a program, all you need is another program, and to defeat that program, all you need is…. another program!
Worth a try! Hmmm…
Hello young crackers!
We are a Chinese business and very interested in in new software! we will give you 50.000$ if you can crack their safety and only tell us!
nobody gives a shit about industrial apps
the protection is used for a game called Steel Beasts Pro PE. they use a dongle that has it’s software updated.
wow, a lots of money… where can i register that challenge… ?
i want to try…
No one is going to take home 40,000 because they’re a bunch of scumbag liars. The previous software WAS broken, and no one took home money because they simply didn’t give it. They took the information on how the protection was broken, and then ran like little pussies and built a “10x” stronger product. It is certain that when the system get’s broken again, they’ll do that same pussy dance once more.
Don’t even bother thinking that you’ll get a dime. This is classic.
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Thanks for the nice post!