The Territorial Army, in collaboration with CyberPeace, has launched the third edition of its national-level hackathon, ‘Terrier Cyber Quest 2026’ (TCQ 3.0), aimed at developing innovative solutions to emerging challenges in defence, cybersecurity and the information domain.
The initiative seeks to bring together technical talent from academia, industry, research institutions, government organisations and the Armed Forces. The competition will focus on emerging areas such as artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, threat mitigation and digital awareness, with an emphasis on developing indigenous solutions relevant to national security.
TCQ 3.0 will feature three competition tracks. The Bug Hunting track will begin with an online Capture-the-Flag (CTF) qualifier and culminate in an in-person live sandbox finale, where participants will identify and document vulnerabilities in simulated critical infrastructure environments.
The AI Kavach track will challenge participants to develop artificial intelligence and machine-learning solutions for predictive threat intelligence, automated defence mechanisms and anomaly detection.
The Creators Challenge will invite content creators, communicators and influencers to develop digital media and storytelling campaigns to raise awareness about threats including deepfakes, phishing, online scams and misinformation.
Registrations for Terrier Cyber Quest 2026 are open until August 31. The online shortlisting phase will be held from September 1 to 10, followed by the grand finale in New Delhi from October 6 to 8. The award ceremony is scheduled for October 9.
