cybersecurity-hackathon

PSB's Cybersecurity, Fraud & Artificial Intelligence Hackathon 2026

PSB’s Cybersecurity, Fraud & Artificial Intelligence Hackathon 2026 in collaboration with IIT Hyderabad. Bank of India (BOI) is proud to host PSB's Cybersecurity, Fraud & Artificial Intelligence, in collaboration with IIT Hyderabad. This initiative is powered by the Department of Financial Services (DFS) (Ministry of Finance) / Indian Bank Association (IBA) aims to foster collaboration between public sector banks, educational institutes and students and to promote innovation, prototype development, and entrepreneurship in the banking sector.

About the Hackathon :

PSB's Cybersecurity, Fraud & Artificial Intelligence Hackathon is a national-level initiative powered by the Department of Financial Services (DFS) Ministry of Finance)/Indian Bank Association (IBA). This hackathon provides a platform for students, banks, and educational institutes to collaborate and create innovative solutions for the financial sector that can solve real-world Cybersecurity, Fraud & Artificial Intelligence challenges.
Selected teams will work on problem statements, and the event will culminate in August 2026 with the presentation of winning prototypes show casing their potential for real-world implementation.

Why You Should Participate :

The one of its kind Hackathon , which is an initiative of Ministry of Finance, Department of Financial Services & coordinated by Indian Banks Association (IBA)
Exciting Prizes: Win rewards worth up to Rs 20 Lakhs.
There are two topics for better participation , Prize Pool of Rs. 20 Lakh (Rs. 10 Lakh for each topic) -

  • 1st Prize - 5 Lakh
  • 2nd Prize - 3 Lakh
  • 3rd Prize - 2 Lakh
  • Prize money shall be awarded in three instalments to ensure sustained involvement of students, institutes, and bank throughout the lifecycle of product development.
Instalment Number Details Amount % with respect to prize money
1 On the day of the grand finale 50%
2 On the day / After completion of Global FinTech Fest 30%
3 Upon successful completion of product development 20%

Recognition:

Winners will be honoured at the closing ceremony, receiving national-level recognition for their innovations. Certificates of Excellence, Merit, or Participation for all participants.

Skill Development:

Tackle real world Cybersecurity, Fraud & Artificial Intelligence challenges and appreciation by industry.

cybersecurity-hackathon

Eligibility :

This hackathon is open for all students, dropouts, aspiring entrepreneurs and young achievers alike, from any institutes/universities. Registration of Participants & Teams (Each team will consist of 3-4 students & As part of Women Empowerment, preferably 1 or more female participants should participate from each team).

Problem Statement:

  • Harnessing Generative AI for Automated Reverse Engineering, Static and Dynamic Analysis, and Risk Scoring of Fraudulent Mobile Applications (APKs) and Malwares.
  • Developing a solution having AI/ML capabilities for detecting suspicious transactions and mule accounts by ingesting financial transactions and/or fraud monitoring solution alerts and/or Transaction monitoring system alerts and govt cyber fraud alerts/tickets and preventing circulation of fraudulent proceeds through mule accounts. This solution should consume real-time regulatory inputs/ feeds and cross-channel bank data.

For more information , Kindly refer below table.

Problem Statement Description

Generative AI-Based Automated Analysis and Risk Scoring of Fraudulent APKs

Fraudsters increasingly distribute malicious mobile applications (APKs) through platforms such as WhatsApp, SMS, email, and phishing links to steal customer credentials, access sensitive information, and perform unauthorized financial transactions. Manual analysis of such APKs is complex, time-consuming, and dependent on skilled cybersecurity experts.

The proposed solution aims to develop a Generative AI-powered malware analysis system capable of automatically analyzing suspicious APK files and identifying malicious behavior. The system should leverage GenAI for reverse engineering, malware pattern recognition, automated code interpretation, and intelligent threat summarization, along with static and dynamic analysis techniques to examine application permissions, APIs, embedded code, runtime activities, and network communications.

Using AI-driven insights, the solution should detect malware patterns, classify threat severity, generate risk scores, and produce detailed investigation reports with actionable recommendations. The objective is to enable faster identification of fraudulent applications and support proactive cybersecurity and fraud prevention measures for banks.

AI/ML-Based Classification of Suspicious Mule Accounts

Banks are facing a growing number of cyber-enabled financial frauds involving mule accounts used to receive, transfer, and conceal fraudulent funds across multiple banking channels. Traditional rule-based monitoring systems are often unable to identify evolving fraud patterns and suspicious account behavior in real time.

The proposed solution aims to develop an AI/ML-powered classification system capable of identifying suspicious and mule accounts by analyzing features from financial transaction data provided in this portal.

Using the data provided, the solution should build AI/ML models that learn behavioural and transactional patterns to identify suspicious and mule accounts. The system should leverage machine learning techniques for anomaly detection, predictive risk scoring, and intelligent alert generation to help banks proactively detect and prevent the misuse of mule accounts in fraudulent fund movements.

The objective is to perform feature engineering on this data to identify the most relevant features for fraud and mule account detection, and build a classification model to accurately distinguish suspicious accounts from legitimate ones Note: In the dataset, feature 3924 is the target variable. The following are some commonly used features utilized by bank for fraud detection.

Note: In the dataset, feature 3924 is the target variable. The following are some commonly used features utilized by bank for fraud detection.

  • F115
  • F321
  • F527
  • F531
  • F670
  • F1692
  • F2082
  • F2122
  • F2582
  • F2678
  • F2737
  • F2956
  • F3043
  • F3836
  • F3887
  • F3889
  • F3891
  • F3894

cybersecurity-hackathon

How to Register:

Don’t miss this unique chance to collaborate. Let’s gear up for this exciting journey and make it a remarkable experience!

Interested students can register through the following link: https://boihackathon.cse.iith.ac.in/

For more reference:

Task Details Timeline
Registration and Idea Submission by Participants 07th May to 15th June 2026
Shortlisting of teams based on submitted ideas 23rd -30th June 2026
Final Shortlisted Teams announcement 30th June 2026
Prototype Development & Progress Report 1st July 2026 - 17th August 2026
Final presentation of prototype 27th & 28th August 2026
Prize Announcement and Closure 28th August 2026