14 DAY TRIAL // Tianfu Cup, a Chinese hacking competition, took place last weekend, and unsurprisingly, the targets of the researchers that joined the event this year are the most high-profile out there.
And nearly all of them eventually fell victim to the hackers, as per the information released by the organizers.
More specifically, Windows 10 version 2004, or May 2020 Update, has been pwned during the event, so has an iPhone 11 Pro running iOS 14 and the latest version of the Safari browser.
Windows 10 version 2004 has until recently been Microsoft’s most recent operating system release after being announced in May this year. It is also the most widely-used Windows 10 version right now, as the rollout of the October 2020 Update is still under way as we speak.
11 out of 16 targets have been pwned
At the same time, iOS 14 is also the newest version of Apple’s iPhone operating system, and it was officially announced in September with much fanfare. It’s already installed on the majority of supported iPhones, according to Apple data.
In addition to Windows 10 and iOS 14, Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox browsers have both been hacked by the researchers that attended the Tianfu Cup 2020 in Chengdu, China. When it comes to devices, besides the iPhone 11 Pro, the hackers also managed to break into two routers, namely the ASUS RT-AX86U, and the TP-Link TL-WDR7660.
Needless to say, while these hackers managed to find vulnerabilities in the products they hacked, they’re all being disclosed to the parent companies who can release patches in the next updates.
In other words, there’s almost no chance the exploit code would fall in the wrong hands, mostly because tech companies are closely working with the participating researchers and offering rewards every time a new vulnerability is discovered.