Private varsity in Noida hosts India’s first national cybersecurity contest

As part of an initiative under ministry of education (MoE), the National Critical Information Infrastructure Protection Centre (NCIIPC), in collaboration with All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), is conducting Pentathon-2024,India’s first national vulnerability assessment and penetration testing (VAPT) competition, at Noida’s Amity University, officials said on Tuesday.

After inaugurating the grand finale at Amity University in Sector 125 on Tuesday, Navin Kumar Singh, director general, NCIIPC, said, “The competition aims to realise the vision of Aatmanirbhar Bharat of Prime Minister Narendra Modi wherein our critical information infrastructure (CII) should be protected by our own young talent. Our long term vision is to build start ups and Indian companies that can export cybersecurity services to the world.”

The objective of the 48-hour long challenge is to create a talent pool of ethical hackers/pen testers for finding vulnerabilities in systems of critical information infrastructure (CII), said officials.

Throughout this intense 48-hour period, shortlisted participants from various technical colleges and universities engage in real-world cybersecurity challenges, simulating the complexities of protecting CII entities.

“Leveraging their technical acumen and ethical hacking skills, participants will strive to identify vulnerabilities and propose effective mitigation strategies,” said an official associated with the event, asking not to be named.

At least 200 students are competing in the event, in teams and individual capacities. Notably, these students have been handpicked from India’s first National Level VAPT Challenge, which saw over 8000 participants from all over India. While the top three teams and individuals stand to win cash prizes, top performers -- up to 10 teams and 40 individuals -- subject to vetting, will be recognised to conduct VAPT at actual CII entities in the country.

Dr Abhay Jere, vice chairman, AICTE, said, “Through these platforms, students can contribute to the national development where companies and the government will come to the participants for solutions”.