( WIRED ) -- From the results of the Pwn2Own hacking competition , it looks like Android and Windows Phone 7 are tough nuts to crack . It took only two days for hackers to crack into the Apple and Blackberry operating systems during the three-day Pwn2Own tournament last week , while Android and Windows Phone 7 models were abandoned and left unhacked by the end of the contest . Is this because their operating systems are more secure ? Yes and no . `` The survival of a target at Pwn2Own does not automatically declare it safer than a target that went down , '' last year 's Internet Explorer Pwn2Own winner Peter Vreugdenhil cautions . The contestants who were lined up to beat the Android and WP7 devices in the competition withdrew for a variety of reasons . Pwn2Own , now in its fifth year , is a hacking competition divided into two areas : web browsers and mobile phones . This year , Microsoft Internet Explorer 8 , Apple Safari 5.0.3 , Mozilla Firefox , and Google Chrome were the web-browser targets . In the mobile phone category , the Dell Venue Pro ( Windows Phone 7 ) , Apple iPhone 4 ( iOS ) , BlackBerry Torch 9800 ( Blackberry 6 ) and Nexus S ( Android ) were targeted . The OS and browser versions were frozen last week ( so for example , Apple 's Safari 5.0.4 update was not used ) , ensuring that all contestants are working on the same version of each OS . Pwning and owning occurs if the hacker defeats the frozen version . If the exploit they used still exists in the current firmware , they are also eligible to receive a monetary prize . The 2011 Pwn2Own competition ran March 9 to 11 . Vreugdenhil says many different factors determine how hard a target is to hack . There 's the safety of the software itself , the exploit mitigations that are already in place for that software , and then the amount of research that has already been conducted ( which can speed up the process of writing an actual exploit ) . Firefox and Chrome web browsers were also left undefeated because contestants withdrew from Pwn2Own . `` Chrome has the advantages of having multiple exploit-mitigation techniques that certainly make it more difficult to hack . As for Android , we see no particular reason why Android would be harder to hack than one of the other targets . '' Safari , Chrome , iPhone , Android and Blackberry all use WebKit in their browsers , which means that they are all susceptible to exploitation through the browser -- and that 's exactly how the iPhone and Blackberry were attacked . Charlie Miller , a Pwn2Own veteran , worked with Dion Blazakis to hack the iPhone 4 in this year 's competition using a flaw in its Mobile Safari Web browser and a `` specially-crafted webpage . '' A team of 3 ( Vincenzo Iozzo , Willem Pinckaers , and Ralf Philipp Weinmenn ) defeated the BlackBerry Torch using a similar technique . So what did the contest 's organizers think of the outcome of 2011 's Pwn2Own ? Vreugdenhil and other organizers were not surprised that the iPhone went down quickly . It has been a major target and a lot of research has already been done on that platform . Android 's survival was a bit of a surprise , since it is also a big target and had four contestants lined up . Although no device is unhackable , some factors contribute to a safer product . For those that are out to find the safest phone on the market , Vreugdenhil says you 'll want to compare features such as DEP ( Data Execution Prevention ) , ASLR ( address space layout randomization ) , Sandboxing , code signing and the ease with which software can be updated on the device . Subscribe to WIRED magazine for less than $ 1 an issue and get a FREE GIFT ! Click here ! Copyright 2010 Wired.com .
At Apple hacking competition , Copyright 2010 and Windows Phone 6 tough nuts to crack . Took last year 's for hackers to crack into the Apple and Pwn2Own operating systems . `` Survival of a target at Pwn2Own does not automatically declare it safer , '' winner cautions .