iPhone 13 Pro, Windows 10, Google Chrome HACKED, but not Xiaomi Mi 11

In a shocking development, Chinese hackers hacked into the iPhone 13 Pro, Windows 10, Chrome and many more products considered tough to crack for any hacker. The only good part here is that it happened in a legitimate manner - at a contest. However, if it can happen at a contest, imagine what a hacker must be doing! Computer hacking contests are one of the best ways for cybersecurity researchers to show off their skills while demonstrating how products and services can be breached due to security flaws. These events, such as the Pwn2Own event that will begin in the US on November 2 and the recent Tianfu Cup in China, are some of the most popular ones in the world. During the recently concluded Tianfu Cup, hackers from China managed to break into and compromise a variety of products including, Windows 10, iOS 15, Google Chrome, Ubuntu 20, Adobe PDF and many others. However, China made smartphone Xiaomi Mi 11 was able to defeat all attempts to hack it.

According to a report by Forbes, Chinese hackers who participated in the annual Tianfu Cup competition on October 16 and October 17, were able to break into the iPhone 13 Pro, Apple’s new smartphone that was launched in September. The smartphone, which was (at the time) updated to the latest version of iOS 15.0.2, was successfully hacked twice by Team Pangu and Kunlun Lab, and reportedly saw the first iOS 15 jailbreak alongside a remote code vulnerability, which does not require a connection to the target device.

Also read: Looking for a smartphone? Check Mobile Finder here.

Desktop operating systems Windows 10 and Ubuntu 20 were not spared either, with experts managing to exploit Windows 10 five times, while Ubuntu 20 was compromised four times. Meanwhile, popular products like Microsoft Exchange Server, Adobe PDF, Parallels VM, Docker CE. VMWare ESXi and Workstation were also breached during the Tianfu Cup event, according to the report. Google Chrome was compromised twice during the event.

Three of the 16 products that were available were not successfully hacked, according to a report by The Record. These included the Xiaomi Mi 11, the Synology DS220j, and an unbranded Chinese electric vehicle. The report states that the iPhone 13 Pro hack, which achieved a jailbreak over the air won this year’s $3,00,000 prize. Details of all these security flaws and vulnerabilities will be revealed to companies (also referred to as responsible disclosure) so they can patch them, after which they will be disclosed to the public.