Google offers $3.14159 in cash rewards to any hacker who can crack its Chrome operating system

Google is so confident in security on the company's Chrome operating system its offering $3.14159 in cash rewards for successful hacks of the system at this year's Pwnium hacking contest.

The figure is a nod to pi, an irrational number that has intrigued mathematicians for thousands of years.
Previously the tech giant has offered reward of $1 million and $2 million to crack its systems.

The most likely outcome is that multiple hacks momentarily compromise the system with several contestants earning up to $100,000 each, or $150,000

should their hack survive a system reboot.

For a hack to count, it must be delivered via webpages on a basic-model Samsung 550 Chromebook over a Wi-Fi connection.



'We believe these larger rewards reflect the additional challenge involved with tackling the security defenses of Chrome OS, compared to traditional operating systems,' Google Chrome developer Chris Evans wrote.

For some commercial hackers who only sell their secrets to the highest bidder the change was welcome.

For Pwnium, contests can keep their true identities a secret. A teenager only identified as Pinkie Pie - a name shared by a My Little Pony character -
has won $60,000 at each Pwnium.

Niche: Though Google believes its operating system is solid, its market share is so small it hasn't had a real world field test
However the Pwn2Own prize for cracking the Chrome browser is $100,000 but only $60,000 for Firefox and $65,000 for Safari. Internet Explorer running on Windows 8 wins $100,000 and IE 9 on Windows 7 nets $75,000.

Pwn2Own winners also get to keep the contest provided laptops.

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