The National Institute of Electronics and Information Technology (NIELIT), under the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), Government of India, has launched CYBER KUSHTI 2026, a national cybersecurity and Artificial Intelligence (AI) hackathon designed to test and recognise human judgment in cybersecurity assessment.
The hackathon was formally launched on August 15, 2026, by Prof. (Dr.) M. M. Tripathi, Director General, NIELIT and Vice Chancellor, NIELIT Deemed to be University.
CYBER KUSHTI 2026 is being conducted as the official parallel technical track of the 3rd National Conference on Cyber Security, Digital Forensics and Intelligence (NCCDFI 2026).
The competition is being conducted in collaboration with the Information Sharing and Analysis Center (ISAC Foundation) under the National Security Database (NSD), with CERT-In as the Knowledge Partner.
Registration for CYBER KUSHTI 2026 opened on August 15 and will remain open until September 10, 2026. Participation is free and open to students and independent researchers in teams of three.
A Hackathon Focused on Judgment, Not Just Detection
Unlike conventional cybersecurity competitions that primarily focus on vulnerability discovery or Capture The Flag (CTF) challenges, CYBER KUSHTI 2026 is designed to assess participants’ ability to evaluate, prioritise and defend cybersecurity decisions.
Each participating team will receive an identical and deliberately imperfect Security Assessment Package.
The package will comprise AI-generated findings, static analysis outputs, dependency and secrets scans, architecture documentation, source code and application logs.
The material will contain false, duplicated and genuine findings. Some actual vulnerabilities will also be deliberately omitted.
Teams will be required to produce a corrected and prioritised security assessment and defend the decisions they make.
The competition will reward participants not only for identifying genuine issues but also for correctly rejecting false findings.
NIELIT Puts Human Judgment at the Centre
Speaking on the occasion, Prof. (Dr.) M. M. Tripathi, Director General, NIELIT, said the nature of security work has changed as machines can now generate findings faster than teams can examine them.
He said the challenge is determining which findings are real, which matter most and what needs to be fixed first.
According to Prof. (Dr.) Tripathi, this judgment is the skill that institutions need to build, and it is the aspect that CYBER KUSHTI 2026 is designed to measure.
Since the same tool-generated material will be provided to every team simultaneously, the format is designed to minimise the advantage of expensive security tools.
Participants will also be free to use Artificial Intelligence tools of their choice.
Prof. (Dr.) Tripathi further said that a student from a college in any part of the country could compete on equal terms with a corporate team.
He said this was deliberate and linked the launch on Independence Day with the ability to examine what one is given, disagree with it and explain why.
Three Rounds: Akhada, Dangal and Kesari
CYBER KUSHTI 2026 will be conducted in three progressive rounds.
Round 1 – The Akhada
The first round, The Akhada, will be conducted online on September 15, 2026.
A total of 50 teams will advance from this round.
Round 2 – The Dangal
The second round, The Dangal, will be conducted online on September 24, 2026.
Following this round, 10 finalist teams will be selected.
Final Round – The Kesari
The final round, The Kesari, will be held in person on October 9, 2026, at the Dr. Ambedkar International Centre, New Delhi.
The ten finalist teams will work under supervision before presenting and defending their assessments on the main stage of NCCDFI 2026.
During the final round, an automated analysis of the same assessment material will be displayed alongside the teams’ presentations.
This will allow delegates to observe where machine-generated analysis and expert human judgment converge and where they differ.
Winners to Receive Cyber Kesari Title
The finalists will be assessed by an eminent jury jointly constituted by NIELIT and ISAC.
The jury will comprise senior cybersecurity practitioners and experts from government, industry and academia, including National Cyber Security Scholars recognised under the National Security Database (NSD).
The winning team will be awarded the title “Cyber Kesari 2026” and presented with the traditional Gada.
The runners-up will be recognised with the titles “Rustam” and “Pahalwan.”
Participants in Round 1 will receive a Certificate of Participation and an individual scorecard.
Participants advancing beyond Round 1 will receive NSD recognition credits.
A special award will also recognise the most instructive incorrect submission, rewarding clearly documented reasoning that has instructional value.
Competition to Be Held in a Controlled Environment
All CYBER KUSHTI 2026 activities will be conducted within controlled environments provided by the organisers.
Participants will neither be directed towards nor permitted to engage with any live system, third party or public infrastructure at any stage of the competition.
CYBER KUSHTI 2026 and NCCDFI
The National Conference on Cyber Security, Digital Forensics and Intelligence (NCCDFI) is a multidisciplinary platform bringing together government, law-enforcement agencies, the judiciary, industry, academia, researchers and students.
The 3rd edition of NCCDFI is being organised by NIELIT at the Dr. Ambedkar International Centre, New Delhi, on October 9–10, 2026.
About NIELIT
The National Institute of Electronics & Information Technology (NIELIT) is an Autonomous Scientific Society of the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), Government of India.
NIELIT has been a pioneer in skill development and digital empowerment.
According to the organisation, it has an extensive presence through 56 NIELIT centres, over 700 accredited institutes and 8,000+ facilitation centres.
NIELIT has skilled and certified millions of students in emerging technologies in the E&ICT domain.
The institute has also been conferred the status of “Deemed to be University” under the distinct category by the Ministry of Education.
Its main campus is at Ropar, Punjab, with eleven constituent campuses located in Aizawl, Agartala, Calicut, Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, Gorakhpur, Imphal, Itanagar, Ajmer, Kohima, Patna and Srinagar.
NIELIT aims to revolutionise higher education in the E&ICT domain using digital technologies.
About ISAC Foundation and National Security Database
The Information Sharing and Analysis Center (ISAC Foundation) is a registered not-for-profit cybersecurity foundation operating as a Section 8 organisation in India.
It focuses on Cyber Security, AI and professional ethics.
The National Security Database (NSD) is a professional recognition and certification project for information security practitioners.
CERT-In, Government of India, is the Knowledge Partner.
With CYBER KUSHTI 2026, participants will compete on the ability to assess cybersecurity findings, prioritise genuine issues and reject false findings, while the final round will place automated analysis alongside human assessments for comparison.
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