I spent last week at the BlackHat and Defcon security conferences in Las Vegas, and there was plenty of security news and research that came out of that. Microsoft had a presence there, and Katie Moussouris (head of their Security Community Outreach and Strategy team), announced that next year at BlackHat they will be awarding $250,000 in prizes for the most innovative research in security defense. This includes a $200,000 grand prize and $50,000 for the runner-up. Microsoft gets a royalty-free license to the technology but the researchers who submit entries will own the IP. You can find out more about these BlueHat awards here: