Google promises $20,000 for hacking Chrome

The world's most powerful search engine, Google, has set a twenty-thousand dollar award for the first successful hacking exploit of the company's Chrome browser in the Pwn2Own 2011 competition, Infosec Island reported.

Other bounties offered in the annual challenge include $15K awards for successful hacks of the Safari, Internet Explorer and Firefox browsers - three times as much as has been offered in prior competitions.

The competition begins on March 9 at the CanSecWest security conference in Vancouver, British Columbia.

"We've upped the ante this time around and the total cash pool allotted for prizes has risen to a whopping $125,000," said Aaron Portnoy of HP TippingPoint's security research team, sponsors of the Pwn2Own competition.