CHENNAI: As the finals of the Tamil Nadu Police's cyber-hackathon contest concluded recently, the top three winning teams of cyber experts were rewarded.

The competition is aimed at enhancing cyber safety. An official statement from the Tamil Nadu police said that criminals are increasingly exploiting cyberspace to conceal their identities and evade the clutches of law, making investigation and crime detection more complex, making the support of cyber security experts indispensable to police investigations.

To obtain expert cyber assistance in cases under investigation and to overcome emerging challenges, the Crime Branch–Criminal Investigation Department (CB-CID) had announced a national-level cyber hackathon titled 'Yukthi 2.0', designed to find solutions to 80 complex and challenging problem statements.

A total of 2,400 participants from across India registered for the hackathon and took part in the preliminary rounds conducted on December 13 and 14.

Among them, 178 cyber experts belonging to the top 50 teams qualified for the final round, which was held on December 19 and 20 at Saveetha Engineering College.

Taking into account the nature of contemporary cybercrime trends, 35 problem statements were shortlisted for the final round. The top three teams, which provided solutions to the maximum number of challenges, were awarded cash prizes of Rs 75,000, Rs 50,000, and Rs 25,000, respectively.

"The outcomes and solutions derived from the Yukthi 2.0 Cyber Hackathon are likely to significantly assist the Tamil Nadu Police in effectively addressing and resolving complex and challenging cases," an official release stated.