Bengaluru, August 6, 2025: Manipal Institute of Technology (MIT), located at the Manipal Academy of Higher Education (MAHE) Bangalore campus. It is a top-tier constituent of MAHE, which ranked 4th in the NIRF 2024 University Rankings, successfully concluded HackSky 2025, a national-level cybersecurity hackathon that brought together the brightest minds in cybersecurity innovation
The three-day event, organized by the School of Computer Engineering, MIT Bengaluru, in collaboration with Kaspersky and the MITB ACM Student Chapter, was guided by the theme “Outsmart cyber adversaries. Disrupt the disruptors.”
The event was inaugurated by Mr. Anand Munikoti, Program Director of CySecK, K-Tech Centre of Excellence for Cybersecurity, Government of Karnataka, who highlighted the crucial role of academia in developing the next generation of cybersecurity professionals.
Industry experts Saurabh Sharma, Lead Security Researcher at GReAT, Kaspersky, and Vaibhav Pathak, Solution Architect for Asia-Pacific at Kaspersky, served as Guests of Honor, providing valuable insights on global security challenges. The event was also graced by Prof. (Dr.) Madhu Veeraraghavan, Pro Vice-Chancellor of Manipal Academy of Higher Education, Bengaluru, and Dr. Raghavendra Prabhu P., Additional Registrar of MAHE Bengaluru Campus.
Dr. Iven Jose, Director of MIT Bengaluru, said, “HackSky 2025 exemplifies our commitment to fostering innovation in critical areas like cybersecurity. Being positioned in Karnataka’s technology hub allows our students to engage directly in industry challenges and cutting-edge research. Through events like HackSky, we create platforms where students can apply their theoretical knowledge to real-world problems.”
The competition featured three core challenge tracks: The Transformation of ICS and Cyber Threats, AI vs AI, Detecting Deepfake & Misinformation, and Trapping the Honey Trapper. After rigorous evaluation rounds supported by continuous mentoring from cybersecurity professionals and academic experts, the winners are:
- 1st Place: Team Technopaths from Manipal Institute of Technology Bengaluru (Advithiya Duddu, Aditya Jemshetty, Rushil Bakori)
- 2nd Place: Team PowerRangers from Shri Madhwa Vadiraja Institute (Hitesh A, Shama Patwardhan, Yathika P Amin)
- 3rd Place: Team Ghost Protocol from Dayanand Sagar College of Engineering (Karan Jain, Saqlain Ahmed P, Samarth B C)
HackSky 2025 was convened by Dr. Dayananda P., Professor and Dean of the School of Computer Engineering at MIT Bengaluru, and Ms. Trishia Octaviano, Senior Manager of Cybersecurity Education for Asia-Pacific at Kaspersky. Dr. Gururaj H. L. and Dr. Shreyas J. served as the core coordinators of the event.