Hack a Mac contest at CanSecWest

The organizers of CanSecWest, a fixture on the security conference circuit, are organizing a "PWN to OWN" contest. Two Apple MacBook Pro computers will be set up as hacker targets. The person who successfully breaks into the machine can keep it. The conference will be held April 18-20 in Vancouver, British Columbia.

PWN is Internet slang, meaning to soundly defeat an opponent. (A side note: Somebody in Virginia has "PWNED" on his license plate, which I noticed when traveling to Black Hat DC recently. Very cool.)

CanSecWest organizers will set up the MacBooks with their own access point and all security updates installed, but without additional security software or settings. Attendees will be able to connect to the machines via the access point through Ethernet or Wi-Fi, according to the CanSecWest Web site.

"The first to exploit it--there are victory conditions, and progressive rules over the three days--gets to go home with it," the event Web site states. If the machines survive the three days, they become prizes for best lightning talk and best speaker.