A team of undergraduate students from PeraCom, the Department of Computer Engineering, University of Peradeniya, emerged as Champions at the AURORA AI IDEATHON 2026, organized by the Computer Science Association of the University of Sri Jayewardenepura.

AURORA 2026 brought together more than 60 outstanding undergraduate teams from across Sri Lanka, providing a platform for students to showcase cutting-edge technological innovations and creative solutions. Centered around the theme of Agentic AI, Cyber Awareness, and Social Engineering, the competition challenged participants to develop intelligent systems capable of detecting, preventing, and responding to emerging cyber threats such as phishing, fake urgency tactics, and authority manipulation.

Representing the University of Peradeniya under the team name Tira-miss-u, the students secured the championship with "Panopticon – Real-Time AI Defense Against Voice Phishing." Panopticon is an on-device AI solution for Android that detects voice phishing, deepfake audio, and social engineering attacks by analyzing phone calls in real time while keeping all user data securely on the device. 

The championship-winning team comprised Imaadh Ifthikar, Bhagya Karunanayake, Shamil Rashad, and S. Kishonithan, all undergraduate students from the E22 batch of the Department of Computer Engineering, University of Peradeniya.

The event also featured mentorship and evaluation from leading industry professionals representing WSO2, Sysco LABS, Virtusa, Dialog Axiata PLC, and Zone24x7, further strengthening the connection between academia and industry while encouraging students to develop impactful solutions to real-world challenges.

This outstanding achievement reflects the team's innovation, technical excellence, and commitment to addressing pressing cybersecurity challenges through advanced artificial intelligence technologies. Congratulations to Team Tira-miss-u on this remarkable accomplishment and for bringing recognition to the Department of Computer Engineering and the University of Peradeniya.

Written By: Hirushi Adikari (Editor/Association of Computer Engineering Students)