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Pwn2Own 2013 Google patched 10 security vulnerabilities in its web browser Chrome on Monday - two days before the start of Pwn2Own, the annual hacking contest in which experts race to compromise software to win prizes.

The latest update fixes flaws in Chrome's Windows and Linux builds. Six of the 10 holes addressed are rated as "high" risk, the second highest severity rating.

Boosting the browser's fortifications obviously benefits the web giant two-fold: if its product remains intact, it gets bragging rights over its rivals, who will also be targeted in the contest. And Google contributed to the competition's $560,000 prize fund, but presumably can claw back unclaimed cash.

Microsoft battled to secure all versions of its Internet Explorer browser, including versions 9 and 10, by issuing two updates in February that collectively squashed 14 security bugs. A cumulative IE update is a regular feature of the Windows giant's monthly Patch Tuesday, but pushing out two is highly unusual. It's suspected that Redmond's security gnomes may have been thinking ahead to Pwn2Own.

Meanwhile, Mozilla updated Firefox on 19 February, fixing eight security bugs in the process, again possibly with one eye towards Pwn2Own.

Pwn2Own 2013 expands the focus of the hackathon beyond phones and web browser vulnerabilities to include hacks that exploit vulnerabilities in Adobe Reader, Adobe Flash and Oracle Java. Prizes will be awarded according to a sliding scale of perceived difficulties. Successful hacks against Google Chrome on Windows 7 will earn $100,000, while pwning IE 9 on Windows 7 is worth $75,000 and Apple Safari on OS X Mountain Lion will earn up to $65,000.

By contrast, exploiting Oracle Java web browser plugins in Internet Explorer 9 on Windows 7 earns a maximum of $20,000, five times less than the maximum prize for hacking IE 10 on Windows 8 ($100,000). Tellingly, Java exploits also earn less than a third of the $70,000 prize for exploiting either Adobe Reader or Flash plugins for IE 9 on Windows 7, each of which earns $70,000. In total, $560,000 is up for grabs, a record prize fund.

Upon successful demonstration of an attack, the contestant will be required to provide HP's Zero Day Initiative (ZDI) a fully functioning exploit and all the details of the discovered vulnerability. HP's ZDI and Google are the main sponsors of this year's competition. Successful security researchers also gain possession of the kit they've hacked into as part of their prize, hence the Pwn2Own title of the competition. Past winners of the competition include Charlie Miller, serial exploiter of Apple bugs.

Unlike previous editions of the event, a prize for hacking into smartphones will not be a feature of this year's competition.

The third annual Google-organised Pwnium competition, also taking place at CanSecWest, offers a prize fund of $3,141,590 to researchers who can successfully crack the advertising giant's Chrome OS. Details of this parallel competition can be found in a blog post here. ®

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