It's evidently the season for hacker challenges, and the latest is by Creative Digital Technology in Sydney, Australia. It claims that its SecurePage software, which works in conjunction with Microsoft's Internet Information Server, makes Web pages hack-proof, and have challenged hackers to crack its technology. COO Philip Burton told The Australian that "we are prepared to stand behind that financially by offering a prize to universities to see if they can do what our developers haven't been able to do". Although the first version runs on IIS, CDT intends to offer the product on other platforms. A patent is being sought so details are scanty at present, but CEO Bahram Boutorabi, who doubles as CTO, said that the product "puts something into Active Server Pages, HTML, Net Commerce Mark-up language and XML which represents a signature that someone has made against that page". The protection relies on comparing the encrypted master signature with the page being served, and if it has been altered, the page is not served. There is 192-bit, triple-DES encryption by way of protection. Unfortunately, CDT's website will not have details of the challenge until next week, as the announcement was only made at Internet World 99 in Sydney earlier this week. We wonder if Microsoft will come calling with its cheque book ready. ®