IIT Delhi to host hackathon on cybersecurity from January 16

This national-level event will focus on cybersecurity, defence AI, and digital safety.

IIT Delhi‘s Entrepreneurship Development Cell and the cybersecurity think tank CyberPeace announced the launch of the E-Raksha Hackathon 2026 on Tuesday. This national-level event will focus on cybersecurity, defence AI, and digital safety.

The 36-hour hackathon is scheduled to take place from January 16 to 18 at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Delhi. It will be part of BECon’26, the institute’s annual entrepreneurship conclave, and will serve as a pre-summit event for the India AI Impact Summit 2026.

The hackathon aims to bring together student innovators from across the country to develop deployable solutions for emerging digital threats. Participants will work in areas such as AI and machine learning, threat detection, blockchain, and secure software development. The problem statements will focus on using agentic AI to secure home Internet of Things (IoT) devices and detect deepfakes.

“We are proud to team up with CyberPeace to develop practical, scalable solutions that address defence-related problems and enhance national security,” said Lakshmi Narayan Ramasubramanian, head of the Entrepreneurship Development Cell at IIT Delhi.

CyberPeace founder Major Vineet Kumar stated that the hackathon aims to promote responsible AI, digital trust, and cybersecurity through broad stakeholder engagement. Officials noted that the winning solutions will be showcased at the India AI Impact Summit 2026 on February 10 at Bharat Mandapam in New Delhi, with cash prizes totalling Rs 3 lakh at stake.

The students have also received more than 35 international offers from organisations across multiple global regions, including Japan, the Netherlands, Singapore, the UAE, and the United Kingdom.

Recruiters with double digit offers on campus this year so far include Accenture Strategy and Consulting, Amazon, American Express, Bajaj Auto Technology Ltd, Barclays, Deutsche India Pvt Ltd, Eternal Limited, EXL Services, EY GDS, EY Parthenon, Glean Search Technologies India Pvt Ltd, Google, Goldman Sachs, Graviton Research Capital, JP Morgan, Meesho, Microsoft, Navi, Nine Education, Oracle, PayU Payments, Qualcomm, Schlumberger, Squarepoint Capital, Sterlite Group, Texas instruments, and Wells Fargo International Solutions Pvt Ltd.