National NewsCBSE denies OSM portal hacking claim

CBSE denies OSM portal hacking claim

NEW DELHI, MAY 26 (AGENCIES): Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) Tuesday denied claims of a breach in its On-Screen Marking (OSM) system, clarifying that the portal cited in viral social media posts was only a testing site and not the actual platform used for evaluation of board exam answer sheets.
In a statement posted on X, CBSE said the operational portal used during the Class 12 evaluation process had a different URL and “had neither been compromised nor had the vulnerabilities indicated” in the social media posts.
The board clarified that the URL mentioned online was only an internal testing site containing sample data for review purposes and asserted that no actual evaluation data, marks or confidential student information were stored there.
The clarification came after a social media user identified as “Nisarga”, claiming to be a cybersecurity researcher and a Class 12 student, alleged he had hacked CBSE’s OSM portal in February and discovered “critical vulnerabilities”. He claimed the flaws allowed unauthorised access to examiner accounts, password resets and alteration of marks.
Rejecting the allegations, CBSE maintained that the actual evaluation system had strong safeguards and grievance redressal mechanisms to ensure transparency and integrity.
Meanwhile, amid complaints over payment-related issues, Union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan held discussions with senior officials of four public sector banks– State Bank of India, Bank of Baroda, Canara Bank and Indian Bank– to improve CBSE’s payment gateway system.
Pradhan directed the banks to help create a more reliable and student-friendly payment system for services such as re-evaluation and obtaining photocopies of answer sheets, while also ensuring faster grievance redressal and automatic refunds in cases of failed or duplicate transactions.

EDITOR PICKS

Economy under stress

India’s economy is going through a difficult and uncertain period, and the government needs to be more open with people about the seriousness of the situation. While official statements continue to describe India as the world’s fastest-growing major...