Activists come of age at 'Oscars' for hackers

  Winners get a golden My Little Pony figurine
While the Pwnies may be tongue-in-cheek, the awards represent a serious attempt to acknowledge the people and events that have made the biggest impact on the hacking community over the past year.
 

While the Pwnies may be tongue-in-cheek, the awards represent a serious attempt to acknowledge the people and events that have made the biggest impact on the hacking community over the past year.

Photograph by: Thomas Peter, Getty Images

BOSTON- The computer hacking community is gearing up for its own version of the annual Oscars, with two notorious “hacktivist” groups and industry heavyweight WikiLeaks among those vying for the top award.

Sony Corp and EMC Corp’s RSA Security division will also be recognized at next week’s award ceremony, for the dubious distinction of having fallen victim to hackers.

While the Pwnies may be tongue-in-cheek, the awards represent a serious attempt to acknowledge the people and events that have made the biggest impact on the hacking community over the past year, said Dino Dai Zovi, one of the organizers of the event.

He is one of several Pwnies judges who will pick the winners from a list of candidates nominated through the organization’s website. (http://pwnies.com/nominations/)

Pwnies is pronounced like “ponies” and refers to the hacking slang term Pwned, which means “owned” or controlled by a hacker.

Winners will receive a Hasbro Inc”My Little Pony” figurine, painted gold, at a ceremony on Aug. 3 during the Black Hat hacking conference in Las Vegas.

Hacktivists Lulz Security and Anonymous are among those nominated for “Epic 0wnage” - delivering the most damaging, widely publicized, or hilarious hack of the past year.

Both groups are wanted by cyber police around the globe.

LulzSec is nominated for “hacking everyone,” according to the Pwnies website. Victims include Fox News, Nintendo, the NHS, the U.S. Senate and the CIA.

Anonymous was nominated for hacking into the email accounts of security firm HBGary Federal, then publishing the emails of its executives on the Web.

They are competing with the virus Stuxnet, which security experts say was designed to attack an nuclear enrichment facility in Iran.

The other nominee in the category is the team of WikiLeaks, for publishing thousands of secret U.S. government cables, and Bradley Manning, the U.S. Army soldier who allegedly stole the material from classified computers.

Should one of the secret hacker groups win the award, then organizers will invite a representative up to the podium to claim their pony, said Alex Sotirov, another organizer.

“If somebody from LulzSec or Anonymous decides to show up and accept their Pwnie, we will give it to them,” he said. “But they will probably get arrested.”

Sony is the sole nominee in the category “Most Epic Fail,” so it is guaranteed to win the award after falling victim to a series of high-profile hacks, which resulted in the theft of personal data on more than 100 million customers.

RSA Security is the highest-profile nominee in the category of “Lamest Vendor Response.”

It was criticized for its handling of an attack on its network that resulted in the theft of data related to its SecurID technology, which companies use to confirm the identity of network users.

Hackers used the information they stole from RSA to launch a subsequent attack on contractor Lockheed Martin Corp.

Views: 65

Comment

You need to be a member of 12160 Social Network to add comments!

Join 12160 Social Network

"Destroying the New World Order"

TOP CONTENT THIS WEEK

THANK YOU FOR SUPPORTING THE SITE!

mobile page

12160.info/m

12160 Administrators

 

Latest Activity

tjdavis posted a photo
7 hours ago
Doc Vega posted a blog post

Photographer Joe Adams Disappearance in Sierra Nevada’s

     The year is 2023 in September. A nature’s photographer and experienced survivalist, Joe Adams…See More
17 hours ago
Sandy posted a video

Aron Siri's opening statement, Senate Hearing on Covid Vaccines, May 25

Opening statement Aaron Siri, Managing Partner, Siri & Glimstad, L.L.P.Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, Permanent Subcommittee on Investiga...
22 hours ago
cheeki kea replied to cheeki kea's discussion Tartaria
"A smidgeon of facts have come to light. In English a misspelling suddenly occurred where an extra R…"
yesterday
Doc Vega posted a blog post

The Cancel Culture Vulture

  Better to shut them down than hear their point of viewCancel culture coming after youHelping to…See More
Saturday
Doc Vega posted a photo
Friday
Doc Vega posted a blog post

The Fingerprint

The Fingerprint On a dance with the unpredictability of the signals you sendA solemn pact with my…See More
Friday
Sandy posted a video
Friday
tjdavis posted a video
Thursday
Burbia replied to Burbia's discussion Trump Receives Marching Orders
Wednesday
Less Prone favorited Burbia's video
Jul 9
Less Prone replied to Burbia's discussion Trump Receives Marching Orders
"Bullets can be effective in reinforcing ownership."
Jul 9
Burbia posted a discussion

Trump Receives Marching Orders

Netanyahu has made 3 visits to the White house since Trump's second term as President of the United…See More
Jul 9
Burbia commented on Burbia's video
Thumbnail

Ben Shapiro Just LOST HIS MIND — There's No Coming Back From This

"Omg. The Ben Shapiro voice that Luke is imitating here couldn't be any more comedic to…"
Jul 8
Burbia posted a video

Ben Shapiro Just LOST HIS MIND — There's No Coming Back From This

Get the magnesium your body needs - https://wearechange.shop/product/magnesium-glycinate/Ben Shapiro Just LOST HIS MIND — There's No Coming Back From ThisHig...
Jul 8
cheeki kea posted photos
Jul 8
Doc Vega posted blog posts
Jul 7
Burbia posted a video

A few reasons I don’t like jews. It’s not complicated.

These are the reasons I became antisemitic. It’s not complicated. Sure, I could go on for days, weeks, months outlining everything, but I don’t need to. This...
Jul 6
Doc Vega commented on Doc Vega's blog post Unusual Discoveries and Headlines
"Less Prone, Thanks Buddy! I'd like to volunteer as a historical reconstructionist! "
Jul 6
Less Prone left a comment for t.me/TheIntelligenceLibrary
"Welcome to a revolutionary concept in public communication, the truth."
Jul 6

© 2025   Created by truth.   Powered by

Badges  |  Report an Issue  |  Terms of Service

content and site copyright 12160.info 2007-2019 - all rights reserved. unless otherwise noted