OnMark row: CBSE brings in IIT, government cyber teams to strengthen portal

New Delhi: The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) on Sunday said it has deployed a team of cybersecurity experts from government agencies and the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) to strengthen the security of the OnMark portal, amid growing scrutiny over its On-Screen Marking (OSM) evaluation system.

In a statement posted on X, the board said it has been actively monitoring vulnerabilities flagged in the portal operated by its service provider and has taken steps to address identified security concerns.

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"We have been closely monitoring the vulnerabilities in the OnMark portal of our service provider that are being flagged in the public domain. An expert team of cybersecurity professionals has been deployed over the last few days from across various arms of the government as well as the IITs to fortify these systems, including taking them over to a more secure set up. The identified vulnerabilities have been contained, and other exploitable weaknesses are being ruled out. We are grateful to all alert citizens and ethical hackers pointing out such weaknesses, and have gotten in touch with some of them directly," CBSE said.

The board's response comes amid mounting controversy surrounding the digital evaluation platform, following reports of technical glitches in the post-result process and allegations of discrepancies in evaluated answer sheets.

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The issue has also triggered political reactions, with the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, questioning the transparency of the tender process through which the On-Screen Marking (OSM) system was awarded.

In a post on X, Gandhi cited a media report and alleged that CBSE had repeatedly altered tender conditions before awarding the contract to COEMPT.

The Congress leader claimed that several technical specifications were diluted during the bidding process, including requirements related to scanning resolution, robotic scanning infrastructure and software certification standards, allegedly enabling a particular company to secure the contract.

The CBSE has not directly responded to the allegations regarding the tender process but maintained that efforts are underway to strengthen the security architecture of the evaluation platform and eliminate any remaining vulnerabilities.