Attention Hackers: You Can Win $200,000 from Microsoft

Microsoft yesterday announced a Blue Hat Prize which is designed to generate new ideas for defensive approaches to support computer security. The goal is to inspire security researchers to develop innovative solutions intended to address serious security threats.

Here are the details. The inaugural Microsoft BlueHat Prize contest challenges security researchers to design a novel runtime mitigation technology designed to prevent the exploitation of memory safety vulnerabilities. The solution that is considered to be the most innovative by the Microsoft BlueHat Prize board will be presented the grand prize of US $200,000.

• Entries will be accepted and must be received by email to bluehatprize@microsoft.com between August 3rd 2011 to midnight Pacific Time on April 1st 2012.
• The winning entry will be announced at Black Hat USA 2012.

First prize: $200,000 (USD)
Second prize: $50,000 (USD)
Third prize: MSDN Universal subscription valued at $10,000 (USD)