A quiet rivalry inside the cybersecurity world turned public this week after Trend Micro accused Wiz of copying large portions of its Pwn2Own hacking contest rulebook for Wiz’s new event, ZERODAY.CLOUD. What began as a product launch quickly sparked an industry-wide argument over originality, ethics, and how experts define innovation in modern cybersecurity.
The battle evolved from the moment Wiz Research announced the launch of ZERODAY.CLOUD giving it a $4.5 million prize pool and calling it the first ever open source cloud hacking competition. Amazon Web Services, Microsoft’s Security Response Center, and Google Cloud are partnering with Wiz to organize the event, which will debut at BlackHat Europe.
Trend Micro’s leadership, however, saw more than inspiration. Juan Pablo Castro, one of its directors, posted a critical message on LinkedIn, saying the new competition appeared to have lifted sections of Pwn2Own’s documentation nearly word for word. He noted that the overlap covered rule definitions, eligibility details, and technical success criteria. Castro claimed that while using borrowed legal documents is normal practice, Wiz copied the identical wording that defines the event’s basic operations.
His message was shortly picked up by the security specialists, who discussed what differentiates the adaptation of ideas from the copying of them. This discussion fanned the existing conflict between the traditional giants of the industry, such as Trend Micro, and the newcomers, like Wiz, which due to their daring and disruptive initiatives, have experienced a rapid expansion.
In response, Wiz issued a public statement acknowledging Pwn2Own’s influence while maintaining that its competition focuses on cloud and AI infrastructure—an area it views as underserved. “We’re huge Pwn2Own fans,” the company wrote, adding that it sought to “spark innovation, not irritate.”
Trend Micro replied with a short, measured note: “Security is a team sport, and collaboration always helps reduce risk.”
Behind the polite tone, the episode reflects a deeper question running through cybersecurity today: as new entrants rise and older frameworks evolve, how can innovation respect history while moving fast enough to address modern threats?
