Pwn2Own 2021 Will Also Cover Zoom, MS Teams Exploits

The prize pool for Pwn2Own 2021 surpasses $1.5 million in cash and other prizes, including a Tesla Model 3. The vehicle is being offered to individuals who take an interest in the automotive category. In this category, in addition to the vehicle, hackers can procure up to $600,000 for hacking a Tesla. There are three difficulty levels in this category and the Model 3 is being offered in every one of them. 

ZDI has likewise declared another category for the forthcoming occasion. As a feature of the new enterprise communications category, participants can acquire up to $200,000 for demonstrating exploits against Zoom or Microsoft Teams. “As the workforce moves out of the office and goes remote, the tools needed to support that change become greater targets. That’s one reason we added this new category and teamed up with Zoom to have them in the contest. Microsoft Teams will also be a target. A successful demonstration of an exploit in either of these products will earn the contestant $200,000 – quite the payout for a new category,” reads the announcement published by ZDI. “A successful attempt in this category must compromise the target application by communicating with the contestant. Example communication requests could be audio call, video conference, or message,” ZDI said. 

Different categories incorporate virtualization, with a top prize of $250,000 for Microsoft Hyper-V client exploits, an internet browser category, with a top prize of $150,000 for Chrome and Edge exploits, an enterprise application category, with the greatest prize of $100,000 for Microsoft 365 exploits, a server category, with up to $200,000 offered for Microsoft Exchange and Windows RDP exploits, and a local privilege escalation category, with $40,000 being the top prize for Windows 10 exploits.