ShaktiCon 2024: More than 2,300 take part to empower women in cybersecurity

ShaktiCon, one of India’s leading cybersecurity conferences dedicated to empowering women in the field, was conducted by Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham. More than 2,300 registrants from 45 countries took part in the dual events of ShaktiCTF ethical hacking contest and Shakticon conference.

This is the third edition of the conference and hackathon exclusively for women. The gatherings brought together industry experts, thought leaders for Government and International forums, and enthusiasts to foster knowledge sharing, networking, and empowerment within the cybersecurity community.

“As our Chancellor, it was Amma’s vision to promote diversity and inclusion that resulted in ShaktiCon & ShaktiCTF, two platforms for women to showcase their expertise, share insights, and advance their careers in the rapidly evolving field of cybersecurity,” said Dr P Venkat Rangan, Amrita’s Vice Chancellor.

ShaktiCTF is a cybersecurity ethical hacking contest just for women. It was conducted over a span of 4 months and in three rounds preceding the ShaktiCon conference. One of the highlights of the conference was the stellar lineup of speakers from seven countries, including Germany, Egypt, Israel, USA, South Korea, Denmark and India. They inspired and empowered attendees with their expertise and experiences.

“I went to inspire aspiring security professionals, came back inspired myself,” said Ms Ashwini Siddhi, Director, Product Security Engineering, GoDaddy, as she addressed the event.

“This is one of the best events in Cybersecurity I have been to. I was able to gauge my strengths and weaknesses during ShaktiCTF,” shared Ms Devika Ranjan, a pentester at a startup.

Another participant, Ms Saisudha, said, “The networking opportunities and interactive sessions were quite effective and helped me connect with peers and experts.”

“Having started in 2020, Shakticon’s worldwide participation has grown significantly over the years. The dual events have had a significant impact on women. This in turn supports several sustainable development goals,” said the founder of ShaktiCon and ShaktiCTF events, Prof Vipin Pavithran. He is with Amrita University’s Cybersecurity Systems and Network Centre.

The conference also featured several interactive workshops and touched on several emerging areas, such as LLM security, AI and security, the evolving attack landscape of cyberphysical systems, threat intelligence, data privacy, amongst others.

Women from more than 45 countries took part in the dual events of the ShaktiCTF ethical hacking contest and the ShaktiCon conference.