Microsoft announces the Blue Hat Prize, $200,000 in cash for dreaming up the best proactive security system.
In the 1996 movie “Ransom,” Mel Gibson plays a wealthy man whose son is kidnapped for a multi-million dollar ransom. Rather than pay, he goes on TV and offers the ransom as a reward for the head of his son’s kidnapper.
Someone at Microsoft must have seen that movie a few times. At the Black Hat Technical Security Conference in Las Vegas, the company announced the BlueHat contest. Build a better mouse trap, or in this case, a better malware trap, one that offers a new and unique approach to PC security, and you’re eligible for a grand price of $200,000.
Second price is $50,000 and third prize is a universal subscription to MSDN, valued at $10,000.
“The object of this Contest is to design a novel runtime mitigation technology solution that is capable of preventing the exploitation of memory safety vulnerabilities,” the company said in its official rules.
The announcement (and dollar amount) drew some audible gasps in the room during the announcement, held in Caesar’s Palace Las Vegas Hotel and Casino. On Twitter, the hashtag #BlueHatPrize showed a fairly positive reaction.
Microsoft employees at the show told me that the fact the winner will retains IP ownership for their entry, so they can decide what they do with their invention, really seemed to go over well with the audience.
The contest runs through April 1, 2012. See the official rules for more information.
