Next Hacker to Organize Biggest Java Programming Competition In Germany

Great news for Hackers and Bug-hunters who enjoy Programming and playing around with Software.

A worldwide group of like-minded computer programmers is hosting The Next Hacker IPPC event on the 26th and 27th of February in Berlin, Germany, where participants can meet hackers and programmers from around the world while getting an opportunity to participate in one of the major hacking-related events in history.

Yes, The Next Hacker is inviting Java programmers to participate in its International Programming Player Competition (IPPC), which is going to be held on the second day of the event, i.e., 27th of February.

The first day of 2016 IPPC event will offer technical sessions on programming, an open panel discussion with renowned hackers and programmers, as well as an opportunity for the world's top programmers to meet leading high-tech companies worldwide.

The Next Hacker is an outstanding programming event with more than 5,000 attendees – no less than 3,000 contestants, including up-and-coming developers and programmers, as well as more than 2,000 guests.

All the guests invited to the event are avid hacking enthusiasts, keeping a close eye on the unique hacking challenges that the contestants will have to face.

The massive number of participants will try to showcase their craft while facing amazingly difficult challenges. This IPPC show is a pleasure to attend and offers the total reward of around $500K in cash prize.

The Challenge – Be Fast, Be Furious

The challenge will start with each programmer having to successfully find and fix holes in three random Java programs.

The fastest programmers will win a share of the cash pool.

The prize money of total $500,000 will be distributed among First 100 programmers.

• First prize – $150,000
• Second prize – $70,000
• Third prize – $50,000
• Fourth prize – $35,000
• Fifth prize – $30,000
• Sixth prize – $25,000
• Seventh prize – $20,000
• Eighth prize – $15,000
• Ninth prize – $10,000
• Tenth prize – $5,000
• Eleventh to Hundredth prize – $1,000 each

 I will  keep you  guys updated about the Next Hacker International Programming Player Competition.

The Benefit

Your participation in the Next Hacker Programming Contest will allow you to:

• Enhance your visibility
• Show off your skills
• Express your own talent
• Grow your international network and establish contacts with new colleagues and open source software companies
• And, of course, win a prize!

So, Sign Up at IPPC now and be a part of one of the Biggest Programming Event.

Roll up your sleeves, Master your skills, Conquer the digital frontier, and Be crowned for the Ultimate Next Hacker.

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Oracle Ordered to Publicly Admit Misleading Java Security Updates

Security issues have long tantalized over 850 Million users that have Oracle's Java software installed on their computers. The worst thing is that the software was not fully updated or secure for years, exposing millions of PCs to attack.

And for this reason, Oracle is now paying the price.

Oracle has been accused by the US government of misleading consumers about the security of its Java software.

Oracle is settling with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) over charges that it "deceived" its customers by failing to warn them about the security upgrades.

Java is a software that comes pre-installed on many computers and helps them run web applications, including online calculators, chatrooms, games, and even 3D image viewing.

Oracle Left Over 850 Million PCs at Risk

The FTC has issued a press release that says it has won concessions in a settlement with Oracle over its failure to uninstall older and insecure Java SE software from customer PCs upon the upgrade process, which left up to 850 Million PCs susceptible to hacking attacks.

However, the company was only upgrading the most recent version of the software and ignoring the older versions that were often chock full of security loopholes that could be exploited by hackers in order to hack a targeted PC.

Oracle is Now Paying the Price

So, under the terms of the settlement with Oracle, announced by the FTC on Monday, Oracle is required to:

• Notify Java customers about the issue via Twitter, Facebook, and its official website
• Provide tools and instructions on how to remove older versions of Java software

Oracle has agreed to the settlement that is now subject to public comment for 30 days, although Oracle declined to comment on its part.

Meanwhile, the FTC wants Java users to know that if they have older versions of the software. Here is the website that will help you remove them: java.com/uninstall.

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These Top 10 Programming Languages Have Most Vulnerable Apps on the Internet

A new research showed that Scripting languages, in general, give birth to more security vulnerabilities in web applications, which raised concerns over potential security bugs in millions of websites.

The app security firm Veracode has released its State of Software Security: Focus on Application Development report (PDF), analyzing more than 200,000 separate applications from October 1, 2013, through March 31, 2015.

The security researchers crawled popular web scripting languages including PHP, Java, JavaScript, Ruby, .NET, C and C++, Microsoft Classic ASP, Android, iOS, and COBOL, scanning hundreds of thousands of applications over the last 18 months.

Researchers found that PHP – and less popular Web development languages Classic ASP and ColdFusion– are the riskiest programming languages for the Internet, while Java and .NET are the safest.

Here's the Top 10 List:

The Veracode research report used a unique metric, Flaw Density per MB, which means the number of security bugs in each MB of source code.

Here's the list of unlucky winners:

• Classic ASP – 1,686 flaws/MB (1,112 critical)
• ColdFusion – 262 flaws/MB (227 critical)
• PHP – 184 flaws/MB (47 critical)
• Java – 51 flaws/MB (5.2 critical)
• .NET - 32 flaws/MB (9.7 critical)
• C++ – 26 flaws/MB (8.8 critical)
• iOS – 23 flaws/MB (0.9 critical)
• Android – 11 flaws/MB (0.4 critical)
• JavaScript - 8 flaws/MB (0.09 critical)

Web Apps in PHP are Most Vulnerable, Here's Why:

PHP, which is on third, is actually leading the ranking because ColdFusion is a high-end niche tool and Classic ASP is almost dead.

Taking a closer look at PHP:

• 86% of applications written in PHP contained at least one cross-site scripting (XSS) vulnerability.
• 56% of apps included SQLi (SQL injection), which is one of the dangerous and easy-to-exploit web application vulnerabilities.
• 67% of apps allowed for directory traversal.
• 61% of apps allowed for code injection.
• 58% of apps had problems with credentials management
• 73% of apps contained cryptographic issues.
• 50% allowed for information leakage.

From above issues, SQLi and XSS are among the Open Web Application Security Project's (OWASP) Top 10 most critical web application security risks.

SQL injection bugs – which allow hackers to directly interact with a Web site's database – are the ones that have been blamed for the massive data breaches at kiddie toymaker VTech and telecom firm TalkTalk.

According to the report, the risk size of the above vulnerabilities can be measured by the volume of PHP apps developed for the Top 3 CMS (Content Management Systems) – WordPress, Drupal and Joomla – that represent over 70% of the CMS market.

Choose Your Scripting Language Wisely

Less than a quarter of Java applications contain SQL injection flaws, compared to more than three-quarters of those applications written in PHP.

"When organizations are starting new development projects and selecting languages and methodologies, the security team has an opportunity to anticipate the types of vulnerabilities that are likely to arise and how best to test for them," Veracode's CTO Chris Wysopal advised.

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