Past Hacker’s Contests
2003: Success story of Wibu-Systems will continue
Software protection Wibu-Key again proves its high security level with the Hacker’s Contest in China
For the third time Wibu-Systems issues a challenge to the world of hackers
KARLSRUHE. The 44 day long Hacker’s Contest ended on October 31, 2003. It was opened by Oliver Winzenried in Shanghai at the CeBIT asia, a successful trade show for Wibu-Systems, on September 18, 2003. No hacker succeeded in cracking the program protected with Wibu-Key.
More than 650 Chinese participants accepted the challenge to crack a sample program protected with Wibu-Key. This means that the number of participants represented a 500 percent increase on last year’s number. The increasing number of participants reflects the incremental publicity of Wibu-Systems in China who have been active with a representative in Shanghai since the start of 2003.
Oliver Winzenried said: “I’m very pleased with the attention that our competition has received in China. Even before it has started I counted on many registrations and large interest because such an event is rarely arranged in the security industry. The response this year has even exceeded my expectations. The result of this competition shows that both the Chinese and foreign companies need a proven and reliable software protection solution like Wibu-Key. The need for such a security solution is especially important in the booming Chinese market where an extremely high piracy rate exists. We don’t want to relax on our success and we will continue to extend our protection concept and develop new applications.”
The latest product from Wibu-Systems is the Digital Rights Management solution CodeMeter that was showcased at CeBIT asia and received a great reception. CodeMeter stores the rights of use for software and other intellectual digital property for a large number of different manufacturers in the hardware CM-Stick, plugged in the USB interface. The user downloads the use of rights via the Internet and then uses the protected software offline. CodeMeter allows the protection of software against illegal copies as well as the storage of pass words, as access control, document protection or file protection.
2002: Copy Protection WIBU-KEY
Security proved – Hackers failed to crack Hacker’s Contest of Wibu-Systems
Karlsruhe, 03-01-2002. Wibu-Systems proves the security of WIBU-KEY with the end of the Hacker’s Contest on 31-12-2001. In spite of a lengthy competition time of 285 days, WIBU-KEY wasn’t cracked.
The reliability and quality of copy protection in WIBU-KEY is shown by the Hacker’s Contest. From the CeBIT 2001 show in March until December 31, 2001, no hacker was able to succeed! The task was to determine the calculation results of a protected function which Wibu-Systems had created and protected by WIBU-KEY. Wibu-Systems had made this function and the contest available on the homepage http://www.wibu.com.
Oliver Winzenried, CEO and founder of Wibu-Systems AG, pointed out: “WIBU-KEY withstood the cracking and hacking efforts of over 300 international registered subscribers. In spite of the attractive prize of DM 10.000 ($US 4,600) it appears that there is no winner of the competition. Certainly the WIBU-KEY lives up to all of our claims.” Wibu-Systems has demonstrated that software can be protected to the highest security level by WIBU-KEY. WIBU-KEY meets the needs of software companies who wish to enforce a distribution system such as Electronic Software Distribution (ESD) or wish to apply custom settlement of their software using, e.g. Pay-Per-Use, or software leasing.
The problems of pirated software are still a challenge to doing business. The industry association Business Software Alliance (BSA) announced that in 2000, software piracy rates in Germany are now up to 28 % (source: www.bsa.de). The resulting loss increased to 650 million Euro.
2001: WIBU-KEY not cracked!
Wibu-Systems Hacker’s Challenge Still Open
Karlsruhe, 05-08-2001. Wibu-Systems, one of the worldwide leading manufacturers in the software copy protection and license management industry, recorded a brisk interest in their Hacker’s Challenge, but no hacker success. The Contest was started on 03-22-2001, at the first day of CeBIT 2001 and will be closed on 12-31-2001.
In order to demonstrate the pirate-resistant security of Wibu-Systems’ hardware-based copy protection system, WIBU-KEY, Wibu-Systems challenged the hacker community with a Hacker’s Contest. The conditions of the contest are to crack a Wibu-Systems-provided program protected with WIBU-KEY. The program and the competition contest rules can be downloaded at http://www.wibu.com. The program will be considered cracked as soon as the contestant can provide the secret results of a function that is in the program. The contest has been open since March 22nd for a total of SEVEN weeks and none of the more than 200 participants have managed to crack WIBU-KEY.
By launching the Hacker’s Contest, Wibu-Systems has aroused an increasing interest in the topics of security and software piracy. Numerous visitors at the Wibu-Systems’s exhibit and of the Kick-off Launch of the contest on 22nd March at CeBIT as well as the participants in the Hacker’s Contest have shown a great deal of interest in the WIBU-KEY copy protection system. The prize money of 10,000 DM has increased both interest and incentive to participate in the contest.
With a worldwide piracy rate of 36% accompanied by a monetary loss of $12.2 billion, Wibu-Systems CEO Oliver Winzenried is setting out to prove that valuable software can be safely protected with WIBU-KEY. Using a secure software protection system like WIBU-KEY will facilitate profitable Electronic Software Distribution (ESD) as well as the newer distribution channels such as Pay-Per-Use or software leasing to be established.
