Year in Review - 2024
In the ever-growing field of Cybersecurity - where every move is critical - Team bi0s continues to portray the spirit of innovation and dedication. By excelling in diverse arenas around the digital space - such as CTFs, DFC, GSoC, GCC, and many more - our members have outdone themselves and set new benchmarks of brilliance for the team.
We are Team bi0s, a group of students hailing from Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, united by our unwavering passion for cybersecurity and a shared commitment to making a meaningful impact. With a legacy spanning over a decade, we take immense pride in holding the prestigious No. 1 position in national CTF (Capture The Flag) rankings. Our club has also achieved its highest global recognition, securing an exceptional 22nd position internationally as acknowledged by CTFtime.
As we reflect on this journey, let us examine our team’s achievements over the past year.
CTFs
CTFs Organized
bi0s CTF 2024
bi0sCTF is a premier hacking competition designed for hackers of all skill levels. The challenges are expertly crafted, incorporating the latest vulnerabilities. We prioritized responsible innovation to ensure an engaging and enjoyable experience for all participants.
This year, like previous editions, marked another successful run of the CTF. Top teams from around the world participated, contributing to its success. The event also saw a significant increase in ratings, reaching an all-time high of 95.79.
InCTFj 2024
InCTF Junior is India’s first and only cybersecurity and Capture The Flag (CTF) championship designed specifically for school students. This event aims to introduce students to cybersecurity through hands-on learning and competitive challenges.
The inaugural edition of InCTF Junior, which marked the event’s return after the disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, recently concluded successfully. This was a significant milestone in promoting cybersecurity education among young students.
CTFs Achievements And Performances!
Digital Forenics Challenge (DFC) 2024
The Digital Forensics Challenge (DFC) 2024, organized by the Korea Institute of Information Security and Cryptology (KIISC), is a competition where participants ranging from researchers to professionals in the field take part in a two-month long effort to tackle real-world DFIR (Digital Forensics & Incident Response) challenges.
Our team members, Nithin Chenthur, Yadhu Krishna, Johith Lal and Preetham Reddy worked tirelessly day and night over the span of two months, leading team bi0s to emerge as the No. 1 international team and 4th overall in the competition. We were awarded a cash prize of ₩3,000,000 and received an invitation to participate in the prestigious Digital Forensics Research Forum (DFRF) 2024 Workshop in Seoul, South Korea.
HackTheon Sejong
HackTheon Sejong is an international cybersecurity competition conducted by Sejong City Hall. The event challenges participants to solve complex security problems through Capture The Flag (CTF) events. It aims to provide university students with an opportunity to showcase their skills in areas like ethical hacking, cryptography, and network security. The competition features two categories—Advanced and Beginner—catering to different skill levels.
At the 2024 HackTheon Sejong, bi0s emerged victorious, securing 1st place and an Honorable Mention. Representing bi0s were Nandu S Pillai, Nithin Chenthur, Srijiith S, Jayanth Katragadda, Alfin Joseph, Mohith LS, Sidharth V, Sejal Koshta, Arun Krishnan, Suraj Kumar, Rohith G and Chandra B Nair, whose collective efforts earned a total prize of ₩2,500,000. Their performance reinforced bi0s’ dominance in the competition and highlighted the team’s exceptional cybersecurity skills.
BlackHat, MEA
BlackHat MEA is a premier cybersecurity event held annually in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, uniting industry leaders, ethical hackers, and experts to explore groundbreaking technologies. In 2024, it achieved global acclaim by setting a world record as the largest cybersecurity event, attracting over 40,000 attendees and 450 exhibitors.
Our team — Nandu S Pillai, Srijith S, Jayanth Katragadda, Pranav Krishna, and Adithya Raj — made a strong impact, securing a place among the top 30 teams worldwide.
Defcamp Finals, Bucharest
DefCamp is one of Europe’s premier cybersecurity conferences, bringing together top ethical hackers, security professionals, and researchers to compete in the DefCamp Capture The Flag (D-CTF) Finals. The event features intense challenges in areas like Reverse Engineering, Cryptography, Web Security, and Forensics. In 2024, 16 teams advanced to the finals in Bucharest, where they showcased their technical expertise in a high-stakes environment.
Among the teams qualifying for the DefCamp 2024 Finals was bi0s, with Sarin Krishnan, Rohith G, Ramanand Balaji, Kartik T Nair, and Rohit Prasanth being invited to represent the team at the onsite finals held in Bucharest. After qualifying in the online round, they earned a spot in the final round.
IITB TRUST LABS (Hyderabad Finals)
Our members, Sanjay Vardhan and Mohith LS, participated in the prestigious IITB TRUST Labs CTF at the Hyderabad Finals. Competing against some of the top cybersecurity talent in the country, they showcased exceptional skills and secured first place.
Additionally, the team of Nandu S. Pillai and Jayanth Katragadda performed well, earning third place in the competition.
Tech Contest
Digital Forensics Tech Contest 2024
In addition to this achievement, our members Nithin Chenthur Prabhu, Yadhu Krishna K, Johith Lal, M Sai Preetham Reddy, Hridhya P, Arun Sreekumar, Jodhil Lal, Mamatha Sivakumar, and Sarin Krishnan R also participated in the DFTC (Digital Forensics Tech Contest), which challenged participants to create innovative solutions for real-world digital forensics problems. Choosing the topic of Digital Forensic Tool Error Reporting, they secured the No. 1 international team position and earned ₩750,000 for their exceptional work.
Event And Conferences
DFRF Workshop
The DFRF Workshop, organized by Korea Institute of Information Security and Cryptology (KIISC) alongside DFC, provided our team members — Nithin Chenthur Prabhu, Yadhu Krishna K, Johith Lal, and M Sai Preetham Reddy, Hridhya P, Arun Sreekumar, Jodhil Lal, Mamatha Sivakumar and Sarin Krishnan R, the opportunity to participate, present their work from the competition, and receive the DFC 2024 prize.
During the workshop, they engaged with industry professionals, researchers, and enthusiasts specializing in Digital Forensics and Incident Response.
This global initiative united top talent from multiple countries, along with cybersecurity professionals and researchers, fostering competition while also enabling collaboration and knowledge exchange in the DFRF workshop.
Global Cybersecurity Camp
Accelerating the path toward excellence in worldwide cybersecurity, our members Sejal Koshta, Aadarsh T Rajeev, and Anikait Panigrahi had the opportunity to represent team bi0s as well as team India at the Global CyberSecurity Camp which was held in Thailand. GCC is a global gathering of cybersecurity professionals, offering collaboration on advanced challenges, hands-on workshops, and insights into emerging trends.
BlackHat Conference
Multiple members of our club including members Ramanand Balaji and M.S Amith received a student scholarship worth $2150 to attend the BlackHat Asia conference.
Here, they were exposed to demonstrations of the latest cybersecurity tools, stalls hosted by leading companies like Microsoft and VMWare, and talks given by industry professionals.
Member Achievements
CVEs and Bug Bounties
A few of our members have leveraged their skills to uncover vulnerabilities and strengthen security in multiple open-source applications.
Arun Krishnan
- Was appointed CVE-2024-8143 for finding a Severity Medium (6.5)-Data Access Operations Outside of Expected Data Manager Component in chuanhuchatgpt Awarded $900
- Was appointed CVE-2024-8550 for Severity High (7.5)-A Local File inclusion in agentscope
- Was appointed CVE-2024-10649 for Unauthenticated File Upload in OpenUI
Alfin Joseph
- Was appointed CVE-2023-52555 for finding a CSRF Vulnerability in Mongo Express
- Was appointed CVE-2025-0192 for Severity Medium (5.4) For finding an XSS in Wandb/openui
- Was appointed CVE-2025-0660 for finding a Stored XSS in the “Add Folder” functionality of Concrete CMS which lacked sanitization, which led to admin account turnover
Google Summer Of Code (GSoC)
Going beyond the scope of security, one of our members, Suraj Kumar, went above and beyond by participating in GSoC (Google Summer of Code). He contributed to the RTEMS Project, where he worked on enhancing GDB by adding Python initialization hooks and improving debugging capabilities for real-time operating systems.
C2C (Country 2 Country)
In a leap towards global Cyber Security excellence, one of our members Nandu S Pillai, achieved the distinction of participating as well as Winning the Country-to-Country (C2C) competition
Scholarships and Publications
Nithin Chenthur Prabhu published a research blog titled “Analysis of User Data in VADs” at SANS University, where he explored the structure and functionality of heap memory management within Windows. The blog delves into the
_HEAP_ENTRYstructure and its flags, demonstrating their significance in analyzing memory allocations and understanding process memory in Windows.
Nithin Chenthur Prabhu also designed a cybersecurity challenge included in the K-Shield Jr. training syllabus, part of the South Korean National Employment Program (NEP).Mohith LS authored research papers related to Post-Quantum Cryptography, including “An Improvement to 2DLSCM Encryption Scheme”, published in IEEE ICAISS. This work focuses on enhancing image encryption using chaos-based techniques to improve security and resilience against attacks.
One of our members, Sarin Krishnan R, received a scholarship to attend the Mathematics for Post-Quantum Cryptanalysis conference, co-organized by KU Leuven and ELTE. This event focused on the mathematical foundations of post-quantum cryptography, providing Sarin with the opportunity to engage with leading researchers and explore advanced topics such as lattices, error-correcting codes, and isogenies.
Internships And Placements
Coming to the Placements, Internships & other employment opportunities that our members have received
- Aneesh Nadh - Application Security Engineer @Cred
- Rahul Sunder - Application Security Engineer @Cred
- Rohit Narayanan - Security Engineer @Traboda
- Alfin Joseph - Application Security Intern @Cred
- Jayanth Katragadda - Intern @Accenture
- Adhithya Suresh Kumar - Senior Windows Detection Engineer @SentinelOne
- Sejal Koshta - Security Research Intern @Uptycs
- Sidharth V - Security Intern @Schneider Electric
- Srilakshmi Prathapan - Product Security Engineer @Groww
- Sanjay Vardhan Padala - Intern @Arizona State University
- Srijiith S - N-day Vulnerability Research Intern @Exodus Intelligence
- Narikondan Hridul - Associate Software Engineer @Toshiba
- Sahithya Kattamuri - Research Intern @Penn State University
- Gautham Kanan J B - Cybersecurity Engineering @SBD Automotive
- Kiran S Pillai - Cybersecurity Engineering @SBD Automotive
- C P Ghanshyam - Windows Security Researcher @HackIT
- Sreesankar S - Hardware Security Researcher @Traboda CyberLabs
- Abhijith C B - Research Student @University of Windsor
- Aadarsh T - Security Research Intern @HighRadius
- R.Srikesh - Android Developer @HackIT
- Anjana Suresh - Security Analyst @Flipkart
As we enter a new chapter, we recognize that true growth isn’t just about achievements—it’s about the impact we make on our team, our community, and the ever-evolving field of cybersecurity. As the landscape changes, so do we—adapting, learning, and giving back to the very ecosystem that has shaped us.
We are deeply grateful to those who have supported us—our university, faculty, mentors, and the cybersecurity community that continually challenges and inspires us. The road ahead is one of learning and progress, and we remain steadfast in our commitment to moving forward with purpose, responsibility, and a shared vision for the future.