Pwn2Own Ireland 2026: Hackers find 98 zero-days and win $1.26M

The Pwn2Own Ireland 2026 hacking competition has concluded, with security researchers discovering a total of 98 zero-day vulnerabilities and collecting $1,262,000 in prize money. Organized by Trend Micro’s Zero Day Initiative (ZDI), the three-day event in Cork featured 29 research teams targeting various categories, including mobile phones, AI infrastructure, smart home devices, and wellness healthcare technology.

Ikotas Labs emerged as the winner, earning $361,000 and 42.5 Master of Pwn points. Their successful exploits included the Samsung Galaxy S26, OpenAI Codex, and the Oracle Autonomous AI Database. On the final day, researchers secured a top prize of $300,000 by chaining multiple zero-days to hack the Google Pixel 10.

Other notable participants included Xint, which took second place with $240,000, and Team ZyGoat, which secured third place with $125,000. The competition highlighted vulnerabilities in a wide range of modern technology, from AI coding apps to messaging and smart home devices. While Apple’s iPhone 17 was listed as a potential target with a $300,000 reward for a remote hack, no contestants registered to attempt it.