IIT Gandhinagar duo place 2nd at Intel Cup with TrustGate
Miloni Thakkar and Mitwa Goswami from IIT Gandhinagar just snagged second place at the Intel Cup 2026 in Shanghai for their AI-powered system TrustGate.
This tool is built to help protect things like water plants and power grids from cyberattacks; pretty crucial stuff in today's world.
TrustGate fuses digital and physical data
TrustGate checks both digital and physical data at the same time, using a clever AI model inspired by a real-life cyberattack on a Florida water plant back in 2021 that was not detected by an automated security system and was noticed only after a plant operator saw the computer mouse moving on its own and reversed the command.
Thakkar handled the AI side while Goswami worked on hardware, making sure it runs smoothly even without cloud support.
The system's still being tested, but it could potentially be extended to other critical infrastructure, including power grids and oil and gas facilities, with necessary modifications for each sector.