New Delhi: The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) on Tuesday rejected social media claims that its On-Screen Marking (OSM) system had been hacked, even as scrutiny over the board’s digital examination and post-result systems widened, with a parliamentary panel summoning top education officials, technical experts beginning an audit of recent glitches, and the Union education minister pushing for a major overhaul of payment infrastructure used by students.
In a statement posted on X, CBSE said claims that its evaluation platform had been compromised were based on confusion over a testing portal, not the actual system used for assessing answer books. The clarification came after a social media user identifying himself as a cybersecurity researcher claimed he had accessed vulnerabilities in what he described as the board’s OSM portal.
The board said the URL cited in the claims, cbse.onmarks.co.in, was only a testing site containing sample data for internal review and not the live evaluation platform.
“The portal used for evaluation of answer-books bore a different URL, which has neither been compromised nor does it have the vulnerabilities indicated,” CBSE said.
It added that no real evaluation data, marks or related records were stored on the testing site and that no security breach had been detected.
The controversy began after a user named Nisarga posted on X on May 22, claiming he had hacked CBSE’s OSM platform in February and had reported vulnerabilities to the Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In). In subsequent posts and media interviews, he alleged he could alter examiner details, including names, roll numbers and bank account information, and even interfere with student marks.
In a detailed online post, the user claimed the flaws included a leaked master password, weak authentication checks, bypass of OTP verification, password reset vulnerabilities and insecure access controls that could allow unauthorised actions across user accounts.CBSE rejected the allegations in relation to its operational system and said safeguards were in place to maintain the integrity of the evaluation process.
“The Board would like to state that this system has been implemented for enhanced transparency in assessments with strong grievance redressal mechanisms built into it,” it said.
The hacking claims surfaced amid criticism over technical issues faced by students during the post-result verification and re-evaluation process for class 12 board exams.
Students and parents had reported payment failures, difficulty accessing the portal and complaints linked to answer sheet uploads. Some also alleged that uploaded answer sheets appeared blurred or did not match the handwriting of students.
To investigate the disruptions, a four-member technical team from IIT Madras and IIT Kanpur has begun examining the system.
IIT Madras Director V Kamakoti said the team started work on Monday evening and was looking into whether the failures were caused by software development problems, technical limitations or a cyber attack.
“There was an issue for around two days. So what was the actual reason for the failure? Was it some development issue, technical issue, or was it even a cyber attack? Because anything is possible,” he said.
Kamakoti said the CBSE portal had remained stable for the last “72 hours-plus”.
He said the review would include a close examination of how the board’s website interacted with payment systems, identifying possible weak points in transaction handling and suggesting ways to prevent future failures.
The IIT team includes two experts from IIT Madras, one with experience in large-scale software deployment and another with expertise in data analytics logs, along with two faculty members from IIT Kanpur.
On complaints regarding answer sheet mismatches, Kamakoti said the team had not yet reached that stage of investigation but would review the scanning and uploading workflow from an IT perspective.
He noted that manual handling is involved in converting physical answer sheets into digital records, leaving room for human error.Defending the broader OSM initiative, Kamakoti said the system was intended to improve transparency by allowing students to see evaluated answer scripts and understand marking decisions.
“From the CBSE’s point of view, they tried to do something very good,” he said.
Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan has also stepped in to address the fallout.
On Tuesday, he held discussions with senior officials from four public sector banks, State Bank of India, Bank of Baroda, Canara Bank and Indian Bank, to strengthen CBSE’s payment gateway systems.
The education ministry said the minister directed the banks to help establish stronger payment protocols, faster issue resolution, real-time monitoring and automatic refunds in cases of failed or duplicate transactions.
He asked the banks to treat the matter with urgency so students do not face similar problems in future. The banking intervention followed discussions between Pradhan and Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on May 24, after which the four lenders were asked to assist with payment gateway integration for CBSE’s post-examination services.
Meanwhile, the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Education, Women, Children, Youth and Sports has called School Education Secretary Sanjay Kumar and CBSE Chairman Rahul Singh for a meeting on June 2.
According to a Rajya Sabha Secretariat notice, the panel will review the use of the OSM system in grade 12 examinations and discuss issues faced by students after the declaration of results.
The committee, chaired by Congress leader Digvijaya Singh, will also examine the implementation of the three-language formula in classes 9 and 10.
Separately, the panel is scheduled to meet on June 1 to discuss testing reforms, including the use of pen-and-paper examinations versus computer-based testing, and matters relating to NEET and the National Testing Agency.
The scrutiny comes as education authorities face growing pressure to ensure digital systems handling high-stakes examinations remain reliable, secure and accessible for millions of students.
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