New Delhi: The Central Board of Secondary Education’s (CBSE) revaluation portal experienced a suspected malicious attack targeting its payment system, government sources have said, affecting around 50 students.

According to officials, the unauthorised activity disrupted the payment gateway integrated with HDFC Bank, leading to abnormal fee displays on the portal. In some instances, the payable amount reportedly fluctuated between as low as Re 1 and as high as ₹67,000–₹68,000.

“There were some unauthorised attacks on the portal. The payment gateway was with respect to HDFC… about 50-odd children had got in after the hack,” a source said.

The source added that the anomaly appeared to be either deliberate or malicious in nature. “Out of fun or mala fide intention, one rupee was shown and then ₹67–68,000. So, there were about 50 children in whose cases the amount had changed,” the official said.

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The issue is believed to have originated when the portal went live, affecting the HDFC-integrated payment system and briefly disrupting transactions. Authorities also confirmed that four public sector banks—State Bank of India, Canara Bank, Indian Bank and Bank of Maharashtra—have now been integrated as additional payment gateways to strengthen the system.

Experts from IIT Madras, IIT Kanpur, and the Digital Infrastructure Corporation of India are currently reviewing the system to improve security and ensure stable integration of payment services.

“The teams are examining the code and the system to make it seamless and glitch-free,” the source added.

The matter follows a recent high-level discussion between Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan and Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on technical issues faced by students during CBSE post-result and revaluation processes. Following the meeting, it was decided to further strengthen payment infrastructure through integration with public sector banks.

Officials also noted that the system has now been shifted to Amazon Web Services (AWS) after earlier capacity issues, with recent test runs reportedly showing improved stability.

(PTI)