Microsoft has kicked off a contest aimed at hackers by offering big money prizes for innovative tactics to halt cyber attacks.

The US software titan launched the premier BlueHat Prize competition at a major Black Hat computer security conference in Las Vegas.

Microsoft opted to offer prizes for defending against entire types of cyber attacks instead of simple paying "bounties" to tho



e that discover individual computer bugs.

BlueHat promised more than USD 250,000 dollars in cash and other prizes to software savants at young as 14 years old. The theme for the first year of the contest was preventing hacks exploiting computer memory vulnerabilities.

Microsoft said it hoped the contest would inspire contributions from researchers, security professionals, and even young hackers.

"Some of the value in this prize is beyond money; it is inspiring not just the current generation but the next generation," said Microsoft lead security strategist Katie Moussouris. Based on article published in ET.