New Delhi, May 31: The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) announced on Sunday that it is actively addressing vulnerabilities in the OnMark portal used for exam services. Cybersecurity experts from government agencies and IIT are currently fortifying the system.
This statement comes in response to increasing scrutiny over the newly implemented On-Screen Marking (OSM) system for 12th-grade evaluations, which has faced criticism due to technical issues and concerns related to the assessment process.
Reports indicate that a significant number of students have requested access to their evaluated answer sheets after noticing sudden changes in their scores.
In a statement, the board emphasized that it is closely monitoring the vulnerabilities flagged in the OnMark portal by the public.
The ongoing statement revealed that an expert team of cybersecurity professionals from various government sectors and IIT has been assigned to enhance these systems, including transitioning to a more secure setup. Identified vulnerabilities have been controlled, and additional weaknesses are being addressed to prevent exploitation.
CBSE expressed gratitude to vigilant citizens and ethical hackers who reported these vulnerabilities and mentioned that it has directly contacted some of them.
The controversy surrounding the OSM system intensified following reports of technical glitches and concerns during the 12th-grade assessment process. Information surfaced during an internal review indicated that the board initiated the digital evaluation system without conducting pilot projects nationwide.
Subsequent investigations reportedly found that numerous answer sheets underwent extra processing due to issues identified during the digital evaluation process.
Currently, over 68,000 answer sheets have been rescanned, while approximately 13,500 answer books required manual verification due to image quality concerns and related technical difficulties.
Despite the criticism, CBSE has firmly denied allegations of data breaches or compromises through hacking. The board clarified that a web link highlighted by a cybersecurity researcher was related to a testing environment with sample data and was not linked to the live portal used for actual exam evaluations or student data.
According to the board, the flagged URL was associated with a test platform and did not grant access to real exam records or the operational evaluation system.
CBSE reiterated that there was no breach in the live evaluation infrastructure, and necessary steps are being taken to further enhance security safeguards.
This development comes at a time when the board is facing increasing attention from students, parents, and educators regarding the functioning of the new digital evaluation mechanism.
CBSE officials stated that efforts are underway to improve the system’s reliability, strengthen cybersecurity protection, and address concerns raised during the evaluation process while ensuring the integrity of examination services.
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