Students from the Department of Computer Science and Engineering, Amrita School of Engineering, Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, Bengaluru campus, have emerged winners in the Microsoft’s National College Hacking Contest- Build the Shield. The team consisted of Anirudh Rayabharam, Sandilya Jandhyala, Sheik Al Farhan and V. V. Bhaskaram. Four students from Indian Institute of Technology (Hyderabad) bagged second while students from Indian Institute of Technology (Bombay) stood third in the contest. 

Amrita students have also been offered full-time placement at Microsoft IT (MSIT), with an annual salary package of Rs. 21 lakhs. 

Furthering its commitment towards security, Microsoft hosts this annual event for universities and colleges across India to provide students with a competitive hands-on hacking experience.

‘Build the Shield’ contest, a first-of-its-kind national level college hacking contest hosted by Microsoft India, is a competitive hands-on hacking experience coupled with real-life scenarios, wherein the participating teams defend their server while attacking competitors’ servers to emerge as the winner. The contest is open to graduates or undergraduates pursuing majors in Computer Science, Information Technology or Electronics and Communication Engineering (ECE). The contest runs in two stages– Qualifiers and National Finale.

The contest begins with online qualifiers, after which the winning teams visit the Microsoft Hyderabad campus for the grand finale. They compete against each other for the final challenge, hear from security leaders on Microsoft’s idea of information security, get a tour of the Microsoft campus and indulge in fun games. The contest is also an opportunity for participants to meet students from different colleges, compete with challenging teams and brainstorm to fight the security battle. Winners of the grand finale receive pre-placement offers from Microsoft to pursue an exciting career with the company, along with other exciting prizes.