Terms of Service

Eligibility

• The Challenge is open to students currently enrolled in a recognised college or university in India.
• Each team must consist of exactly two participants.
• A participant may be registered with only one team.
• Multiple teams from the same college or university are permitted.
• Both team members must complete student verification using a valid college/university ID before being permitted to participate.
• SecureMojo may request additional information where reasonably necessary to verify eligibility.
• If a participant is under 18 years of age, SecureMojo may require consent from a parent or lawful guardian before permitting participation.

Registration and team formation

• Registration opens on 21 September 2026 and closes on 22 October 2026.
• One participant may create the team, select a unique team name, complete payment and invite the second participant.
• Both participants must complete their individual registration and verification requirements.
• The Team Lock Deadline is 22 October 2026. Team composition cannot normally be changed after this deadline unless SecureMojo approves an exceptional request.
• SecureMojo may reject team names that are offensive, misleading, impersonating, unlawful or otherwise inappropriate.

Registration fee

The registration fee is ₹900 per two-member team.

The registration fee is non-refundable once payment has been successfully completed, except where a refund is required under applicable law or expressly announced by SecureMojo.

Failure to participate, failure to complete verification, participant withdrawal, scheduling conflicts, travel difficulties or team-member unavailability will not normally create an entitlement to a refund.

Competition format

The Challenge consists of two rounds.

Virtual Preliminary Round

31 October 2026, 9:30 AM IST · 5 hours · Online

Grand Final

14 November 2026, 9:30 AM IST · 6 hours · On-site at SecureMojo Bengaluru HQ

The Top 6 teams from the Preliminary Round, following scoring, appeals and integrity verification, will qualify for the Grand Final.

SecureMojo may make reasonable operational changes where necessary and will communicate material changes through official channels.

OSINT Foundations Workshop

• Registered participants may attend the OSINT Foundations Workshop on 24 October 2026.
• The workshop is approximately 90 minutes and attendance is optional.
• Workshop participation does not provide additional competition points or preferential treatment.
• The workshop is intended to teach general OSINT concepts and methodology and will not disclose Challenge solutions or unpublished competition material.

Permitted investigation

Participants may use publicly and legitimately accessible information and permitted OSINT tools.

Investigation must remain passive.

Participants may search, observe, analyse, verify, correlate and document publicly available information in accordance with the Competition Rules.

Prohibited conduct

Participants must not:

• hack, scan, probe or exploit systems that are not expressly designated as in-scope;
• bypass authentication, access controls or restricted systems;
• attempt logins or password resets against investigation subjects;
• engage in social engineering, impersonation or pretexting;
• call, email, message, DM, connect with or otherwise contact persons or organisations connected with a Challenge;
• use unlawfully obtained, leaked, breached or stolen datasets;
• harass, doxx or unnecessarily expose private individuals;
• share answers or collaborate between competing teams;
• receive investigative assistance from anyone outside the registered two-member team;
• publish active Challenge materials or solutions while a round is running.

Violations may lead to point deductions, challenge-level penalties or disqualification depending on severity.

AI tools

• AI tools may be used as research assistants where permitted by the Competition Rules.
• Participants must disclose relevant AI use where requested.
• AI-generated output is not evidence.
• Every factual finding, source and submitted conclusion must be independently verified by the team.
• AI tools or autonomous agents may not be used to perform activities that participants themselves are prohibited from performing.

Challenge submissions

Participants are responsible for reviewing their submission before selecting Final Submit. Once a submission has been finalized, it will normally be locked.

Submissions may require:

• Final Finding, investigation methodology, evidence, source URLs, screenshots, tools used, confidence level and AI-use disclosure.

Participants must not fabricate, materially alter or misrepresent evidence.

Scoring

Challenges use fixed difficulty-based values:

Beginner

30 points

Intermediate

60 points

Advanced

100 points

Each challenge is evaluated using:

Accuracy

70%

Evidence quality

20%

Methodology & reproducibility

10%

A correct answer without adequate evidence may receive no more than 50% of the available points for that challenge.

Incorrect conclusions may still receive eligible Evidence and Methodology points where legitimate investigative work has been demonstrated.

Tie-breaking

Ties will be resolved in the following order:

1. 01Higher total Accuracy points.
2. 02Greater number of Advanced challenges correctly solved.
3. 03Higher combined Evidence and Methodology score.
4. 04Earlier final submission timestamp.
5. 05If teams remain tied after all other criteria, the final tie will be resolved through a fair coin toss supervised by the Chief Judge.

If more than two teams remain tied, SecureMojo may conduct an appropriately documented sequence of coin tosses.

Preliminary results and appeals

• Preliminary results may initially be published as provisional.
• A scoring appeal must be submitted within 24 hours of publication of the provisional results.
• Appeals must identify the Team ID, Task ID, specific scoring issue and reason for review.
• No new evidence, sources or findings may be introduced during an appeal.
• The final decision following the appeal process is binding.

Finalist verification

• Provisional Top 6 teams may be required to attend a short verification interview.
• Participants may be asked to explain selected submissions, evidence, investigative pivots and methodology.
• This process is used to verify competition integrity.
• Failure to satisfactorily establish authorship or compliance may result in further review.

Finalist travel and accommodation

• SecureMojo will provide accommodation in Bengaluru for qualifying Finalists in accordance with finalist instructions communicated separately.
• Travel to and from Bengaluru is not provided or reimbursed by SecureMojo.
• Finalists are responsible for arranging and paying for their own transportation.
• Participants must bring suitable laptop(s), charging equipment and other required personal equipment to the Final.
• Internet connectivity for competition purposes will be provided at the venue.

Prizes

The current prize structure is:

Winner

₹75,000 cash + ₹25,000 Mojo Voucher · total value ₹1,00,000

1st Runner-up

₹50,000 cash + ₹25,000 Mojo Voucher · total value ₹75,000

2nd Runner-up

₹25,000 cash + ₹25,000 Mojo Voucher · total value ₹50,000

The total prize value is ₹2,25,000, comprising ₹1,50,000 in cash prizes and ₹75,000 in Mojo Vouchers.

Prize values are per winning team, unless expressly stated otherwise.

Cash prizes may be subject to applicable taxes, withholding requirements, identity verification and documentation.

Mojo Vouchers are subject to separate redemption, validity and usage terms published by SecureMojo.

Certificates

• Eligible participants who complete the Preliminary Round will receive a Certificate of Participation.
• Top 6 qualifying participants will receive separate Finalist Certificates.
• SecureMojo may establish reasonable verification requirements before certificates are issued.

Technical problems

The SecureMojo competition server clock is the authoritative competition time.

Participant-side issues such as local internet outages, electricity failure, laptop failure or browser problems do not normally qualify for individual extensions.

Where a SecureMojo-controlled platform, challenge asset or competition system experiences a material failure, SecureMojo may pause or extend the competition, replace or remove a task, award appropriate credit or adopt another fair remedy.

Intellectual property

The SecureMojo name, logos, Challenge branding, website design, challenge material, text, graphics and other organizer-created content belong to SecureMojo or its licensors.

Participants may use Challenge materials only for legitimate participation in the competition.

Challenge materials may not be publicly redistributed, sold or republished without authorization.

Participant submissions

Participants retain ownership of original material they create.

By submitting material to the Challenge, participants grant SecureMojo a limited licence to store, access, reproduce and review that material for competition administration, judging, integrity review, appeals and record-keeping.

SecureMojo will not acquire ownership of participant-created investigation reports solely because they were submitted.

Disqualification

SecureMojo may disqualify a team for serious violations including hacking, social engineering, restricted-data access, evidence fabrication, deliberate collusion, answer sharing or substantial unauthorized outside assistance.

Where practicable, material integrity decisions will be documented.

Changes or cancellation

SecureMojo may reasonably modify scheduling, format, venue, competition procedures or individual challenges where necessary.

Material changes will be communicated to registered participants.

If the Challenge is cancelled or materially changed by SecureMojo, any fee or remedy obligations will be handled in accordance with applicable law and any specific cancellation notice issued by SecureMojo.

Disclaimer

OSINT tools, third-party websites, public databases and external services may change, become unavailable or contain inaccurate information.

SecureMojo does not control third-party services and does not guarantee their availability.

Participants remain responsible for complying with applicable law and competition rules when using external resources.

Limitation of liability

To the maximum extent permitted by applicable law, SecureMojo will not be liable for indirect, incidental or consequential loss arising from participation, use of third-party services or participant-controlled technical failures.

Nothing in these Terms excludes liability that cannot lawfully be excluded.

Governing law

These Terms are governed by the laws of India.

Subject to applicable law, disputes relating to these Terms or the Challenge will be subject to the jurisdiction of competent courts in Bengaluru, Karnataka.

Contact

For questions relating to these Terms:

Entity

Securemojo Consulting Private Limited

Address

4th Floor, 133/2, Residency Road, Bangalore — 560025

Email

help@smosint26.com