‘Cyber for HER’ Hackathon witnessed enthusiastic participation from women throughout India, Cyber for HER is a capacity building initiative dedicated to empowering young women aged 18 to 23 in the field of cybersecurity.
New Delhi, 4th February 2025: The Cyber for HER hackathon, bringing together 70 teams from across nine states in India, comprising of more than 150 women aged 18-23 to compete and test their cybersecurity skills was successfully held at the Scope Convention Centre in Delhi.
Supported by the British High Commission, New Delhi, sponsored by Rubrik and delivered in collaboration between EY and DSCI, the initiative aimed to enable aspiring young women in cyber and support the development of a more diverse cyber security workforce in India and beyond.
The Cyber for HER Hackathon was formally inaugurated by distinguished guests, notably, Ms. Christina Scott, Deputy British High Commissioner to India; Mr. Abhishek Singh, Additional Secretary, Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) and Ms. Sundari Nanda, Special Secretary, Ministry of Home Affairs.
The winning teams are ‘Team Fallen Order’ who clinched the winner title, ‘Team Tech Titans’ as 1st runner up and ‘Team Arthasutra’ as 2nd runner up who received a winning prize of INR 2,00,000, INR 1,50,000 and INR 70,000 respectively. The challenge saw pan India participation where young female students travelled from states like Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, Goa, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, and Haryana. Participants competed in a jeopardy-style Capture the Flag (CTF), tackling technical challenges in cybersecurity domains such as Reverse Engineering, Mobile Security, Digital Forensics, Web Application Security, Exploitation, and Hardware Security.
The hackathon was executed in two phases. In the first phase, participants showcased their creativity and understanding by designing non-technical cyber awareness materials on themes such as Cyber Awareness, Digital Hygiene, and Privacy Awareness. The phase saw over 1,300 registrations, reflecting the enthusiasm and dedication of participants with 550+ submissions. From these submissions, 200 participants were shortlisted for the second live hackathon phase.
Dominic Gillan, First Secretary – Cyber, British High Commission, New Delhi, said, “Improving diversity in cyber security is a goal for both the UK and India. Diverse teams provide more creativity, innovation, and solutions to cyber security problems. The British High Commission is proud to support the Cyber for HER Hackathon, as part of our India-UK cyber collaboration. To see over 150 young women from across India join us in Delhi to compete in the final phase was inspiring. Well done to all those who took part in both phases and many congratulations to the winners.”
Vinayak Godse, CEO, DSCI, said, “It was indeed heartwarming to witness the enthusiasm and participation of women candidates from all corners of the country. We would like to congratulate all the participants and not just the winners for making their way from tier II, tier III and small cities to compete. Cyber for HER was conceptualised to encourage more young women into the industry and provide an opportunity to explore cyber security careers. We would like to thank the British High Commission for supporting this campaign and partnering with us through the India-UK Cyber Programme.”
About the India-UK Cyber Programme
The India-UK Cyber Programme delivers the UK and India’s April 2022 commitment to a joint programme of co-operation focused on cyber governance, deterrence, resilience and capacity building. India and the United Kingdom are committed to a partnership that delivers for both countries.
About DSCI: Data Security Council of India (DSCI) is a not-for-profit, industry body on data protection in India, setup by Nasscom®, committed towards making the cyberspace safe, secure and trusted by establishing best practices, standards and initiatives in cyber security and privacy. DSCI works together with the Government and their agencies, law enforcement agencies, industry sectors including IT-BPM, BFSI, CII, Telecom, industry associations, embassies, data protection authorities and think tanks for public advocacy, thought leadership, capacity building and outreach initiatives.ends GNI
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