Google scraps annual Pwnium bug-hunting contest

Google is scrapping Pwnium, its annual bug hunting event, and folding it into an existing year-round program in part to reduce security risks.

The company held Pwnium annually at CanSecWest, a security conference in Vancouver, to find security problems in its Chrome OS, Chrome browser and affiliated applications.

But Tim Willis of the Chrome Security Team wrote in a blog post that the annual event isn’t best for either researchers or the company. “If a security researcher was to discover a Pwnium-quality bug chain today, it’s highly likely that they would wait until the contest to report it to get a cash reward,” Willis wrote. “This is a bad scenario for all parties. It’s bad for us because the bug doesn’t get fixed immediately and our users are left at risk.”