Pwn2Own 2012: Changed rules, bigger prizes, no more mobile hacks

Pwn2Own, one of the most anticipated hacking contests that takes place each year at the CanSecWest conference in Vancouver, British Columbia, is set to unfold under dramatically different rules this year.

First and foremost, smartphone hacking is no longer on the table - Pwn2Own returns to its roots and will welcome only researchers targeting Microsoft Internet Explorer, Apple Safari, Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox, running on Windows or Mac OS.

This year edition will also reward the three most successful participants with cash prizes of $60,000, $30,000 and $15,000, respectively (plus the laptops they manage to compromise).