0x10 Candles Winners and Answers
 
Winner Announcement for "0x10 Candles: A Birthday Story of Teenage Angst and Malicious Code"
 
By Ed Skoudis
 
Wow!  We had some great entries in our Crack the Hacker Challenge.  Thank you to everyone who read our scenario and submitted answers to our questions.  I carefully read through every response, and was consistently impressed with the knowledge and cleverness of Bookpool.com's readers.  You guys rock!
But, alas, we have room for only three winners, the top of the top, the finest of the finest, the super-ultimate-guru-'leet-d00derific-macho-studmuffin best of them all.
Our third place winner, whose entry was one of the best researched and entertaining of all, is Kamal Shankar !  His write-up made me laugh out loud a few times, and demonstrates great insight into the malware-fighting craft.  Kamal has even included an anti-piracy plug in his response, underscoring the importance of not stealing software.  Kamal will receive a copy of my Malware book for his fine work.
Our second place winner is Pete Schuyler, whose answers were technically brilliant, short, and sweet!  Like Kamal, Pete will also get a copy of the malware book, which, sitting on his bookshelf, will be a fine trophy of his amazing malware-analysis prowess.  His friends should rightfully be envious of his immense talents.
And now… The moment you've all been waiting for so patiently lo these many weeks.  The first place winner of the Palm Tungsten E so kindly offered as a prize by Bookpool.com… is… the master of disaster… the nerd with the word… the man with the plan… the one… the only…  Nick Tolk, who nailed the technical aspects of the challenge wonderfully with his captivating and well-researched response.  He ran up the score on each item in my scoring matrix, narrowly but decisively winning first place.  <Insert canned audience applause track here.>
All three of you did excellent work.  Beyond those three prizewinners, we also had some wonderful responses that deserve honorable mention (but, regrettably, no physical prizes beyond the ability to list on your resume how brilliantly you performed in this challenge).  Chris Eagle, Tom Van Setten, and Erik Cabetas all had really strong responses, and are worthy of the heartfelt respect and adoration of their friends, family, and any potential mates who strike their fancy.
Good work, folks
Thank you again for your time—
--Ed Skoudis.
Author, Malware: Fighting Malicious Code