IIT Delhi to host hackathon on cybersecurity ahead of India AI Impact Summit 2026

New Delhi, Dec 30 (PTI) IIT Delhi's Entrepreneurship Development Cell and cybersecurity think tank CyberPeace on Tuesday announced the launch of the E-Raksha Hackathon 2026, a national-level event focused on cybersecurity, defence AI and digital safety, officials said.

The 36-hour hackathon will take place from January 16 to 18 at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Delhi and will be held as part of BECon'26, the institute's annual entrepreneurship conclave, and as a pre-summit event to the India AI Impact Summit 2026, an official statement said.

Further, it added that the hackathon will bring together student innovators from across the country to build deployable solutions to emerging digital threats.

The participants will work on domains such as AI and machine learning, threat detection, blockchain and secure software development, with problem statements centred on agentic AI for securing home IoT (Internet of Things) devices and detecting deep fakes, the statement read.

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

CyberPeace founder Major Vineet Kumar said the hackathon would promote responsible AI, digital trust and cybersecurity through broad stakeholder engagement.

Officials said the winning solutions will be showcased at the India AI Impact Summit 2026 on February 10 at Bharat Mandapam, New Delhi, with cash prizes worth Rs 3 lakh at stake. PTI VBH PRK PRK