Pwn2Own, a sort of Gray Hat extravaganza, is going to be cracking browsers and phones for the third year in a row this March. It’ll go from the 18th to the 20th and thousands of dollars in prizes. Many will enter, few will pwn.

The targets are IE8, Chrome, and Firefox running on Windows 7, and Safari and Firefox on OS X. I’m guessing it’s not going to be Safari 4 since that’s probably a mess security-wise right now. For mobiles, it’s BlackBerry, Android, S60, WinMo, and an iPhone. Any browser bug/exploit wins $5000, and a mobile bug or exploit nets you the ten large — plus you get to keep the phone you cracked.

It’s up in Vancouver, BC, so although I can just drive up, doubtless many international men of hackery will be hopping a plane to take their shot in this lucrative contest.

[via Reg Hardware]