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UW CSE nominated for two Pwnie Awards

In what CNN calls “the Oscars for hard-core computer hackers,” UW CSE has been officially nominated in two categories for the upcoming 6th annual Pwnie Awards!

Most Innovative ResearchComprehensive Experimental Analyses of Automotive Attack Surfaces

“Many hackers have been complaining about the extinction of unmitigated vanilla stack buffer overflows. It turns out that they are not extinct at all, they have all just migrated to YOUR CAR. Stephen Checkoway and the rest of his team identified and exploited these vulnerabilities through a burned CD, paired BlueTooth device, unpaired BlueTooth device, and through a phone call to the car’s internal GSM cell phone. Yes, they can call up your car and install malware on it, which they actually implemented (how non-Academic of them). The future is a very scary place. Luckily, the majority of the Pwnie Award judges don’t drive. Or use computers. Or phones.”

Best SongThe UW CSE Band for “Click Me”

The UW CSE Band has the unique distinction of being the first Best Song nominee that is sung (not rapped) by someone who can actually sing on key. This song, a cover of The Cranberries’ ‘Zombie,’ gives us flashbacks to the mid-90’s when server-side remotes and raver pants were plentiful.”

Winners will be announced at the awards ceremony this Wednesday at the Black Hat conference in Las Vegas.