Hack attack: All your browser bases belong to us

20.03.2009
Well that didn't take long.

Moments after unto an unsuspecting planet, it got hacked to bits. Actually, IE8 was hacked the day before it emerged from the beta chrysalis.

In this case, at least, it was in the controlled environment of CanSecWest's annual contest. The hacker was a 25-year-old grad student in computer science at Germany's University of Oldenberg known only as "Nils." (No word yet whether Nils is planning a world tour along with other mononyms Prince, Madonna, and Bono.) Nils earned himself a cool US$15K, because he in less time than it takes to recite the "A pansy who lived in Khartoum" limerick with a mouthful of peanut butter.

That IE8 flaw is no fluke, by the way. Per the :

The big news of the day is that the MSRC (Microsoft Security Response Center) woke me up before my alarm went off this morning to let me know that they had reproduced and validated IE8 vulnerability discovered by the mysterious Nils. Of course, we can't tell you anything more than that- stay tuned for more information once Microsoft releases an update for it! ...For those not keeping score, the confirmation of the IE8 vulnerability on the released bits (available just this morning!) marks the first official vulnerability in IE8! Congratulations Nils! We take our collective hats off to you!

Somehow, I suspect the folks at MSRC are little! less! enthusiastic! about this topic.