This year is no exception, with the organisers offering a $10,000 reward but, instead of seeking a repeat of the last couple of years, in which cracks of Microsoft Windows and Apple's Mac operating systems won the day, the competition will be twin-track, covering mobile phones as well as operating systems.

Terri Forslof, security response manager at TippingPoint, the sponsor of the content, said that mobile has become a new frontier.

"We've seen mobile exploits in the past, but we still don't see a lot of focus in that area. More and more, people are taking computing on the go and rely on these devices for e-mail and accessing the Web. So it seemed prudent to have a look at them, and the contest is a good forum for that," she explained.

The cellcoms cracking track will see participants asked to reveal major cracks in the five main smartphone operating systems - Blackberry, Apple iPhone, Google Android, Symbian and Windows Mobile.

Interestingly, TippingPoint, a 3Com division, and which is also known for its Zero Day Initiative bug-bounty scheme, has not capped the number of cracks it is willing to pay out $10,000 on this year.

We're not going to limit it this year, says Forslof, adding that, in the first year, the competition was a one-bug, one-winner contest, which expanded to three prizes last year.