Pwn2Own loses HP as its sponsor amid new cyberweapon restrictions

The next scheduled Pwn2Own hacking competition has lost Hewlett-Packard as its longstanding sponsor out of legal concerns that the company could run afoul of recent changes to an international treaty that governs software exploits.

Dragos Ruiu, organizer of both Pwn2Own and the PacSec West security conference in Japan, said HP lawyers spent more than $1 million researching the recent changes to the so-called Wassenaar Arrangement. He said they ultimately concluded that the legal uncertainty and compliance hurdles were too high for them to move forward.

"I am left being kind of grumpy now that HP is not involved," Ruiu told Ars. He said that he plans to organize a scaled-down hacking competition to fill the void at this year's conference, which is scheduled for November 11 and 12.

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