Lt Gen Sandeep Jain felicitates winners at Indian Army’s terrier cyber quest 3.0
The Indian Army’s Terrier Cyber Quest 3.0, organised by the Territorial Army in collaboration with CyberPeace, concluded in New Delhi after attracting more than 8,200 teams from over 2,500 institutions across the country.
The national cybersecurity and artificial intelligence (AI) challenge culminated with a Conclave and Prize Distribution Ceremony, followed by an interaction between the winners and Lieutenant General Sandeep Jain, AVSM, SM, Vice Chief of the Army Staff (VCOAS).
Of the more than 8,200 teams that participated, only 47 teams advanced to the finale, highlighting the competitive nature of the national-level challenge. The event brought together talent from academia, industry, research institutions, government and the Armed Forces to address emerging digital threats and technology-driven national security challenges.
The 2026 edition featured three tracks: Bug Hunting, AI Kavach and the Creators Challenge. Bug Hunting attracted more than 7,000 registrations and recorded 6,471 entries in its online Capture-the-Flag (CTF) qualifier, with 19 teams progressing to the finale. AI Kavach, focused on predictive threat intelligence, automated defence and anomaly detection, received more than 800 registrations and selected 16 finalists.
The Creators Challenge, which focused on awareness campaigns against deepfakes, phishing, online scams and misinformation, attracted more than 200 registrations and sent 12 teams to the finale. The track also aligned with the theme of Cybersecurity Awareness Month.
The Bug Hunting finale was conducted over 36 hours, from October 5 to 7, in a simulated national-infrastructure sandbox. Shortlisted teams identified and documented vulnerabilities, and an expert jury evaluated their submissions based on severity, originality, and complexity.
Participation spanned several leading educational and defence institutions, including IIT Madras, IIT Kharagpur, IIT Kanpur, the National Forensic Sciences University (NFSU), Rashtriya Raksha University, Army Institute of Technology, MCTE Mhow, VIT, Chandigarh University, SRM University, Amrita University, the University of Delhi and Army Public Schools. Industry teams from TCS, Infosys, Accenture, HCLTech and Wipro also participated.
In the Bug Hunting track, NFSU recorded the most entries with 120, followed by Chennai Institute of Technology with 88, Chandigarh University with 79, Rashtriya Raksha University with 70, and SRM University with 59. In AI Kavach, VIT led with 23 entries, followed by the Army Institute of Technology, Pune, with 22. IIT Madras recorded 11 entries, while IIT Kharagpur and Rashtriya Raksha University recorded 10 entries each.
On October 8, participants visited key defence establishments before assembling at the United Services Institution (USI) for the Conclave and Prize Distribution Ceremony. Lieutenant General Sandeep Jain, AVSM, SM, Vice Chief of the Army Staff, and Sridhar Vembu, Chief Scientist and Co-founder of Zoho Corporation, felicitated the winners. Lt Gen Jain also congratulated the winning teams for their performance.
Now in its third edition, Terrier Cyber Quest has expanded its scope beyond conventional cybersecurity to include AI-driven threat detection and digital-awareness storytelling. The initiative reflects the Indian Army’s continued efforts to bring together academia, industry, Government and the Armed Forces to address challenges in India’s evolving cyber and defence landscape.
