Can Hackers Hack It?

[Dome]

I took this article from http://www.informationweek.com/story/IWK20020315S0041

Wouldnt it be nice to get that Ferrari Modena 360??
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Can Hackers Hack It? March 18, 2002

A couple of high-tech challenges offer big bounties for folks who can do some serious code breaking. Data security software vendor Meganet is offering a new Ferrari Modena 360 to anyone who can break its flagship Virtual Matrix Encryption. Meganet's encryption is based on a 1 million-byte algorithm.

If you prefer cold cash, Bodacion Technologies promises $100,000 to any hacker savvy enough to break the encryption on its Hydra Internet servers.

Bodacion Technologies' code uses chaos theory. "The chaos is derived from functions used to describe cell growth," says chief software architect Eric Uner. "Any patterns which seem to reveal themselves quickly take a left turn."

[s0nIc]

lol wow.. mind blowing.. hehe i would be really cool to meet the people who can crack that baby open.. or atleast watch them do it..

[gstudios]

There was another company who did a contest like that... Wish I could remember the name, think I saw it talked about here, on AO, in fact. Anyhow, someone managed to crack it, but the company never paid up. Claiming that they had done it seconds (hours, days?) after the contest had ended (if i remembered correctly). Therefore the company basically got an answer for free.

[Negative]

Originally posted by gstudios
There was another company who did a contest like that... Wish I could remember the name, think I saw it talked about here, on AO, in fact.

That would be Bodacion Technologies' 'Invulnerable Internet' HYDRA-server.

They posted this announcement on 05/01/2002:

http://www.bodacion.com/news.html
The Bodacion Challenge has ended as of May 1st. We received over 200,000 attempts, and no one was able to correctly figure out the 1000th Bodacion. Thank you to everyone who attempted. A new challenge has not yet been posted.

[NetSyn]

trust them at ur own risk.... i know i have no chance of cracking that crap but if i could id do it.... even if i didnt get the money i would at least have been known to have done it and that woulda been enough for me... but i would most def ask for my cash and fight them in court if they refused 2 pay


-NetSyN

[iNViCTuS]

This is a legit contest...

But there is one thing I never understood...Why would you intentionally draw that kind of attention to your product. Nothing is unbreakable...so eventually, like every other contest like this, when someone cracks it, nobody will want to buy the product anyway. Security through obscurity still has something to be said.

[Ratman2]

Originally posted here by iNViCTuS
This is a legit contest...

But there is one thing I never understood...Why would you intentionally draw that kind of attention to your product. Nothing is unbreakable...so eventually, like every other contest like this, when someone cracks it, nobody will want to buy the product anyway. Security through obscurity still has something to be said.

The answer to this one is fairly simple: Product improvement. What will happen with Hydra now is that the company will correct the product so the same exploit cannot be used again. After this they may repost the contest. This cycle may continue for a while. When it's over they'll have such a secure product that 99% percent of people that try to crack it will give up, moving on to a less defended target.

[souleman]

invictus> Also, you are convincing a crapload of people to beta test your product for you. How much would it cost to get 200,000 people to security test a product for a month? I think 100,000 is pretty damn cheap when you consider it.

And like gstudios pointed out, they didn't pay up last time, because of the timing. I can't remember where I read about that, but they didn't have to pay anything because the person was late turning in the "1000'th bodacian" In other words....screw em...

[iNViCTuS]

The problem is that is is not just the 100,000 that is lost...more importantly it is your reputation. Would you want to be a salesman for a company that had to explain to potential customers "Well, it's secure, but not 100% secure because someone did crack it. But don't worry...it can't happen again!!"

[Dome]

I think most companies understand that there is no such thing as 100% secure... but i would be happy to tell a company that we offered a Ferrari for anyone who could crack it and millions tried and only one secceeded after 2 months of trying, that shows that not any kiddiot could get into your computers and that only those evil genius hackers can.

not only that, but they would of had that exploit fixed wich means that cant even be used anymore..