Gujarat Police turns to startups, students for solutions to emerging cyber threats

Ahmedabad, Aug 21 (AHN) More than 100 technology startups and 1,500 students from across India took part in Gujarat’s first police-led cybersecurity hackathon, with teams developing solutions to tackle cyber fraud, dark-web threats, digital forensics, and online safety.

The two-day KANAD S.H.I.E.L.D. 2026 – Security Hackathon for Intelligence, Encryption, Law Enforcement and Defence was organised by the Ahmedabad City Cyber Crime Branch in collaboration with i-Hub Gujarat, Karnavati University, TCS and Google at the KCG Campus on August 19 and 20.

Participants from 16 states registered for the event, which had 26 problem statements divided between a Startup, Industry and Innovation Track and a Student Track.

After shortlisting, organisers invited 50 startups and 70 student teams to showcase their solutions and prototypes.

The problem statements covered areas including AI-based threat intelligence, dark-web monitoring, financial crime and fraud analytics, women and child safety, cyber welfare, digital forensics, identity theft, data protection and law-enforcement surveillance.

Deputy Chief Minister Harsh Sanghavi, who attended the inaugural session on August 19, said the hackathon was more than a competition and would help give a new direction to Gujarat Police’s fight against cybercrime.

"Cybercrime could become a bigger challenge than traditional offences over the next decade and sustained collaboration between police, technology experts, startups and young innovators is a must," he had said.

The event was prepared over six months, with 16 police officers of Superintendent of Police rank serving on the jury across the two days.

Around 24 professors and technical and forensic experts from institutions including Gujarat University, GTU, Rashtriya Raksha University, NFSU, IIT Gandhinagar and the Directorate of Forensic Science also assessed the solutions.

S4AI Technologies won the Startup, Industry and Innovation Track and received Rs five lakh, followed by Threat-Tool Technologies with Rs three lakh, and Hornet Technologies LLP with Rs two lakh.

In the Student Track, Ahmedabad’s LexMatrix won Rs 1.5 lakh, while Team Raptorz received Rs one lakh and DigiRakshak got Rs 50,000.

On August 20, around 300 police inspectors, sub-inspectors and personnel from Ahmedabad and other parts of Gujarat received specialised training.

Cyber expert Rakshit Tandon conducted sessions on cybercrime detection and investigation tools, while Google’s Regional Lead for Developer Relations, Harsh Dattani, addressed artificial intelligence and cybersecurity.

The organisers said selected solutions would be further developed and considered for potential pilot projects with Gujarat Police.