Date: 16-18 December, Guwahati
Organized under the aegis of IAYPC 2024 – IEEE India Council, with support from India Internet Foundation, NIXI, and host institutions across five regions, the Hackathon was a defining moment in India’s pursuit of technical excellence and global standards participation.
India’s digital transformation hinges on its ability to develop and secure core internet infrastructure. The IEEE India Council (IEEE IC) Standards Hackathon, organized in partnership with the India Internet Foundation (IIFON) under the AIORI program, stands as a testament to the country’s commitment to nurturing the next generation of internet engineers. Through a 5 workshop series, a hackathon, and a grand finale, Indian students were challenged to build practical tools rooted in global internet standards.
Workshops: Building a Foundation Nationwide
The journey began with hands-on workshops at five regional venues, ensuring broad participation and knowledge sharing:
- South Zone – Chennai (St. Joseph’s College of Engineering, Tamil Nadu)
- North Zone – Delhi (Sharda University, Greater Noida, UP)
- West Zone – Mumbai (Sardar Patel Institute of Technology, Maharashtra)
- East Zone – Kolkata (Heritage Institute of Technology, West Bengal)
- North East Zone – Guwahati (Royal Global University, Assam)
These workshops saw a total participation of 250 students across 5 locations in internet standards, protocols, and measurement, blending theory with practical insights into standards development and open-source implementation.
Unique Hackathon for the Internet’s Core
The AIORI Hackathon focused on real-world Internet standards as defined in IETF RFCs. With five challenging problem statements from RFC 9606, 9461, and 9411, the hackathon took participants on a deep dive into:
- DNS Resolver Query Tools
- Multi-Service Binding Automation
- IDS/IPS Throughput Benchmarking
- Stateful vs Stateless Filtering
- Power Consumption in Network Security Devices
Scale & Scope
- 23 Teams from 16 universities participated in the remote phase
- 9 finalist teams reached the on-site Grand Finale at IIT Guwahati on 18th December 2024
- The event hosted 70+ physical and 170+ virtual participants
Meet the Winners
Red Relay – DNS Resolver Visualization (RFC 9606)
Debarghya BhattacharyYa, Aditya Ghosh, Dipankar Basu
Built a user-friendly tool to compare RESINFO DNS records across providers, offering DNSSEC and latency analytics.
SecureNet Innovators – IDS/IPS Performance Benchmarker (RFC 9411)
Nabhonil Bhattacharjee, Sampurna Pyne, Raja Karmakar
Developed an emulation environment to assess latency and throughput under varied attack traffic profiles.
These teams were later selected to represent India at the IETF 122 Hackathon, contributing to international Internet standardization efforts.
The Grand Finale @ IIT Guwahati
The finale wasn’t just a competition—it was a symposium on Internet Measurement, Security, and Standards (APSIMSS), featuring:
- Keynotes by Mr. Geoff Huston (APNIC), Dr. Goutam Paul (ISI Kolkata)
- Roundtable on India’s Standards Participation
- AIORI Showcase highlighting DNS Testbeds and Anycast deployments
- Hackathon Valedictory with Jury deliberations and expert critiques
Notable dignitaries included:
- Shri Sushil Pal (Joint Secretary, MeitY)
- Mr. Samiran Gupta (VP, ICANN APAC)
- Prof. Devendra Jalihal (Director, IIT Guwahati)
- Dr. Sundeep Oberoi (IIT Bombay)
Global Impact: IETF 122 Hackathon Participation
The winning teams joined the global IETF Hackathon where they:
- Implemented RFC 8250 (IPv6 PDM Extension Header)
- Evaluated DNS server performance using custom testbeds
- Contributed to open-source tools like Scapy and the AIORI DNS measurement platform
- Shared their work with international stakeholders via IETF Slides
What AIORI Represents
The Hackathon wasn’t just about coding—it was about building India’s future leadership in Internet engineering. It highlighted:
- The importance of academic-industry collaboration
- Hands-on Internet infrastructure and protocol training
- Need for India’s increased participation in global bodies like IETF, ICANN, and APNIC
A Call to Action
AIORI now calls upon academic institutions, researchers, and ISPs to collaborate and join future editions of the program. As India transitions into a digital-first economy, homegrown engineering, standards leadership, and open-source contributions are critical.
Visit https://portal.aiori.in to learn more and engage.