CyberSafety.co.za

• Vladimir Gneushev won the first phase of the Challenge, as the quickest of the 11 correct solutions
• No one fully resolved the second phase of the Challenge. Iván Otero was declared the winner after correctly solving the second part

Panda Security reports that nearly 5000 people from 91 countries took part in the 2010 Panda Challenge. Organised by PandaLabs, Panda’s anti-malware laboratory, this year’s Challenge involved two separate high-tech teasers.

The winner of the first phase of the Challenge, launched on July 17, was Vladimir Gneushev, the first person to send in the correct solution. Suprisingly, only eleven participants managed to correctly resolve the problem.

The second phase of the Challenge, published on July 24, comprised of two parts. The first challenge was to find a valid license key for a program. However, no participants managed to do this and so the prize was awarded to Ivan Otero, who was the first to send in the solution to the second section of the test.

“For the second year running we’ve been amazed by the great response to the Panda Challenge, particularly given the technical difficulty involved in these tests”, says Jeremy Matthews, head of Panda’s sub-Saharan operations. “It’s incredible that, despite participants entering from all across the globe, no one found the complete correct solution to the second test”.

The winners will receive their prize of an iPad in the next few days.

More information is available in the PandaLabs blog: http://www.pandalabs.com

For more information about Panda, visit http://www.pandasecurity.com/.

Panda Security is launching the Panda Challenge. Last year’s edition of the competition saw more than 4,000 entrants putting their considerable computer skills to the test.

This year the Panda Challenge asks participants to find the solution to two practical problems published in the PandaLabs Blog. In the first phase, users will have to download the game and then make a keyfile in order to play it; while the second phase involves finding a valid license for a program.

“We launched this challenge for the first time last year, unaware of the fantastic response we would get” says Jeremy Matthews, head of Panda’s sub-Saharan operations. “We were pleasantly surprised to see such a high number of participants with such technical expertise. The challenges were not easy but lots of users managed to find the solution.”

The first challenge will be published on Saturday, July 17 at 09:00 (GMT + 2) and solutions must be received by Monday, July 19 at 17:00 PM (GMT + 2). The second challenge will be published the following weekend, on Saturday, July 24 at the same time, and solutions must be received by Monday, July 26. The winner will be the first contestant to send the correct solution to pandachallenge@pandasecurity.com.

Anyone, from any country, can take part, with no need to register or comply with any requirements. All participants can follow the contest and interact with each other on Twitter, using the hashtag #PC2010.

“This year we have taken into account the suggestions of contestants to better adapt the challenge to everyone’s needs: we’re running it at the weekend, with a timetable that allows people from all over the world to take part, etc. We hope users enjoy it as much as last year”, concludes Matthews.

More information is available in the PandaLabs blog: http://www.pandalabs.com

For more information about Panda, visit http://www.pandasecurity.com/.