The grand finale of the Capture The Flag (CTF), a national-level cybersecurity competition started by the IIT Bombay’s Trust Lab covering challenges in Cryptography, Web Exploitation, Reverse Engineering, and Miscellaneous categories held at Powai campus on Dec 15, was won by Team ‘Gingers’, followed by Team ‘Chatpata Vada Paav’ in the second place and Team ‘Daalbaatichurma’ in the third place, with all three teams representing IIT Roorkee. The fourth place was awarded to Team ‘fl4g0rD13’ from IIT Madras, while the fifth place went to Team ‘Deathwing’ from Vishwakarma Institute of Technology, Pune. The finale was held at
In addition, Shriyansh Gupta from Team ‘JEE is Tuff’ received a special mention for his exceptional performance. Notably, Shriyansh is an 11th standard student from a Kendriya Vidyalaya in Delhi, who competed alongside undergraduate students from some of India’s leading technical institutions.
The competition drew 480 teams from top engineering institutes, cybersecurity clubs, and technology universities across India. Participants competed individually or in teams of two. From this pool, the top 50 finalists were shortlisted for the on-campus finale, where they undertook a series of escalating technical challenges developed by cybersecurity researchers from Trust Lab.
A Capture The Flag (CTF) is a cybersecurity competition where participants solve challenges to find “flags,” special strings serving as proof-of-hack. It tests skills across cryptography, reverse engineering, web security, forensics, and networking. Players analyse vulnerable programs or services, identify weaknesses, and submit the flags for points.
Prof. Shireesh Kedare, Director of IIT Bombay, said, “CTF competitions are globally accepted as one of the most effective ways to build hands-on cybersecurity capability. Participants are required to solve challenges across domains such as reverse engineering, cryptography, application security, digital forensics and system exploitation—the skills crucial for combating online scams, financial fraud, phishing, ransomware, and emerging digital risks targeting individuals and institutions,” adding, “With India’s digital footprint expanding rapidly—from UPI and fintech to smart infrastructure and AI-powered services—the demand for skilled cybersecurity professionals has never been higher. IIT Bombay’s Trust Lab aims to nurture this talent through competitions, workshops, research collaborations, and real-world testing platforms.”
Prof. G. Sivakumar, Principal Investigator of IIT Bombay’s Trust Lab, said, “Competitions like this are crucial for closing the gap between academic learning and the rapidly evolving threats confronted by industry. They force participants to think like real adversaries, apply core technical principles under pressure, and build the instincts that modern cybersecurity demands. The CTF finale also immersed students in IIT Bombay’s advanced cybersecurity research ecosystem—offering direct interactions with faculty, exposure to cutting-edge defence frameworks, and insights into the latest global attack techniques.”
