India has received another big international endorsement with students from BITS Pilani, Goa Campus scoring at the 2026 Hacktheon Sejong cybersecurity competition held in South Korea, where more than 1,000 teams from over 120 countries participated. The Indian team won the Excellence Prize and Third Prize, which is a sign of India’s increasing cybersecurity skills and ethical hacking capabilities.
Hacktheon Sejong is a recognized international cybersecurity competition where an international team of students, researchers, and cybersecurity experts from around the world will join with others and solve the challenging real-world cybersecurity issues that test their skill in cryptography, reverse engineering, digital forensics, binary exploitation, web security, and network defense.
The BITS Goa team's outstanding performance proves the high level of technical capability being developed in India's engineering institutions. Competing against teams from some of the world's top universities and technology ecosystems is a sign of the maturity of India's cybersecurity education and research community.
Winning two major awards at an event with participants coming from over 120 countries is a great achievement. Indian students have performed well in one of the quickest-growing and strategically important areas of technology.
The BITS Goa team has also now qualified for CTF@AC26 at Universitatea Politehnica Timișoara in Romania and will have to face some of the best cybersecurity talent from around the world on their way to the top cybersecurity talent again and meet up with them. Qualification for another prestigious international competition is proof of the team's skills and quality of work to solve the most challenging cybersecurity challenges from the most complex field.
Capture the Flag (CTF) competitions are the most popular sites for training and developing cybersecurity professionals. They are virtual cyberattacks and defense scenarios, and require people to identify the vulnerability of a system, analyze malware, exploit software flaws, secure digital infrastructure, and solve technical problems in a time-consuming manner. Success at these competitions is generally regarded as a great indicator of knowledge of cybersecurity.
India has become a major player in the global cybersecurity workforce with rapid digital transformation in government, finance, healthcare, manufacturing, and critical infrastructure, and the need for high-level cybersecurity professionals is growing. Indian universities and technology institutes are increasingly investing in cybersecurity education, research, and hands-on training through hackathons, security laboratories, and international competitions.
The achievements of BITS Goa students not only bring international recognition to their school, but also cement India’s status as a world leader in cybersecurity talent. The success of Indian students is evidence that Indian students can compete with—and even up against—the world’s best teams.
The team's qualification for Romania provides another opportunity to show India's technical excellence on an international platform. Great performances in international cybersecurity competitions also enable national cyber resilience, innovation, and the building of secure digital ecosystems.
As cyber threats continue to evolve worldwide, developing world-class cybersecurity professionals is a priority area for countries of the world. The achievements of the BITS Goa team are inspiring for future cybersecurity professionals and the continuous growth of Indian-born persons in the digital field and its impact on the digital world.
