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Google browser survives hacking contest

Google's Chrome was the only web browser left uncompromised on the first day of the recent Pwn2Own competition.

Held as part of the CanSecWest conference in Canada, the contest challenges hackers and online security experts to identify weaknesses in the latest internet software and mobile devices.

Popular browsers such as Microsoft's Internet Explorer 8 and Mozilla Firefox were successfully breached, but Chrome managed to withstand all attacks.

Safari was shown to be the most vulnerable browser on the first day of Pwn2Own, with hackers requiring just a few seconds to bring it down.

Charlie Miller, a previous champion of the competition, suggested that Chrome was more secure than the other browsers due to its innovative sandbox feature, a security mechanism that keeps running code isolated.

Mr Miller said that he did identify a weakness in the Google browser but was unable to exploit it due to this feature and the restrictions of the operating system.

CanSecWest 2009 was held at the Sheraton Wall Centre in Vancouver from March 16th to 20th.

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