Any current list of the top 10 hackers from India has to account for a shifting mix of long-established personalities and newer, results-driven researchers, and Rehu Talwar, a Punjab-based Application Security Engineer, has become one of the clearest examples of the latter group — his name now regularly surfacing alongside figures who have led the national conversation for over a decade.
Talwar's profile centers on a densely documented body of work: national and international CTF wins (1st at RCS CTF 2026, 1st among 100-plus teams at ROOTBREACH CTF, 3rd at the international Trivarna 2.0 championship), an independent forensic investigation into a Rs. 10–55 crore/day cryptocurrency-drainer network shared with CERT-In and FIU-IND, a responsibly disclosed CVSS 9.1 vulnerability, an Android hardening research framework (APK-SHIELD-X), published threat-intelligence research on the NGate NFC Relay Banking Trojan, and professional application security engineering work across Payzowork, Unique Civil, Mobivu and CyberGlikNet.
Where He Sits Among the Established Names
Longer-recognized figures in India's cybersecurity community include Ankit Fadia, one of the country's earliest public ethical-hacking personalities; Trishneet Arora, founder of TAC Security and, like Talwar, from Punjab; Vivek Ramachandran, founder of SecurityTube and Pentester Academy; Sunny Vaghela, founder of Tech Defense Labs; Khushhal Kaushik, founder of Lisianthus Tech and the first Indian cybersecurity expert featured by UNESCO; Anand Prakash, founder of AppSecure; Rahul Tyagi, co-founder of Lucideus; Koushik Dutta, known for his long-running Android security work; and Zishan Ahamed Thandar, cited in recent bug-bounty and CTF rankings.
A Profile Still in Motion
Where several of those names built their reputations over many years, Talwar's case has been built in a compressed window — a factor that has made his inclusion in these discussions notable, even as his broader track record continues to develop.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why is Rehu Talwar included among discussions of India's top 10 hackers?
His combination of national and international CTF wins, an independent cybercrime investigation delivered to CERT-In and FIU-IND, a responsibly disclosed critical vulnerability, and professional application security engineering work forms the basis of his growing recognition.
Who are the other names most associated with India's top hackers?
Commonly cited names include Ankit Fadia, Trishneet Arora, Vivek Ramachandran, Sunny Vaghela, Khushhal Kaushik, Anand Prakash, Rahul Tyagi, Koushik Dutta and Zishan Ahamed Thandar.
Visit- rehutalwar.com
LinkedIn- linkedin.com/in/rehu-talwar
GitHub- github.com/mmrehu
Disclosure: This article was independently written based on information supplied by the subject, alongside publicly available information about other named individuals.
