CBSE thwarts 3.8 million-packet cyberattack as re-evaluation portal crosses 56,000 applications

NEW DELHI: The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) on Tuesday said it had successfully thwarted a massive cyberattack targeting its verification and re-evaluation portal, even as the platform continued to process tens of thousands of student requests amid ongoing scrutiny of the Board's digital infrastructure.

According to an update shared by CBSE, the portal faced a 3.8 million-packet denial-of-service (DoS) attack during the afternoon. The Board said its technical teams successfully blocked the attack and ensured that services remained operational for students seeking verification of issues in scanned answer books and re-evaluation of answers.

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The latest development comes against the backdrop of weeks of controversy surrounding CBSE's digital systems, including concerns linked to the On-Screen Marking (OSM) platform, answer-sheet access services and cybersecurity vulnerabilities flagged by independent researchers.

Over 56,000 applications submitted
Despite the attempted disruption, CBSE said the portal had accepted more than 56,000 applications for verification and re-evaluation as of 9:30 PM.

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"Our technical teams are proactively monitoring performance and introducing refinements to deliver a smoother, faster and more seamless experience for students," the Board said.

The portal was opened for students who had already obtained scanned copies of their evaluated answer books and wished to report issues such as missing pages, missing supplementary sheets, blurred scans, incorrect answer books or evaluation against a different question paper set. Students can also seek re-evaluation of specific answers after reviewing their scanned copies.

The Board had earlier postponed the launch of the portal while carrying out technical upgrades. Since becoming operational, CBSE has issued multiple updates regarding performance improvements, user traffic and cybersecurity safeguards.

Multiple banks supporting payment infrastructure
To support the large volume of applications, CBSE has integrated payment gateway services from four public sector banks — State Bank of India (SBI), Bank of Baroda, Canara Bank and Indian Bank.

SBI said its payment gateway has processed more than 40,000 transactions linked to CBSE services so far. The bank noted that students can make payments through UPI, debit cards, internet banking and credit cards issued by any bank.

Bank of Baroda reported that more than 7,500 transactions had been successfully processed through its gateway, while Canara Bank said over 4,000 customers across different banks had used its platform for CBSE fee payments.

Indian Bank also confirmed that more than 5,000 customers had utilised its payment gateway for remitting CBSE-related fees.

Digital systems remain under scrutiny
The cyberattack disclosure comes at a time when CBSE's digital infrastructure has remained under public scrutiny. Over the past several weeks, concerns have been raised regarding the OSM platform, answer-sheet access services and alleged cybersecurity vulnerabilities linked to examination-related systems.

CBSE has maintained that it is continuously strengthening its platforms and working with technical teams to ensure secure and uninterrupted services for students using post-result facilities.

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