Reports have surfaced regarding an alleged cyber attack on the CBSE re-evaluation portal, which has disrupted the payment system. Let’s take a closer look at the details of the incident…

The re-evaluation portal, launched for lakhs of CBSE students, has suddenly become the subject of widespread discussion. This time, the reason is neither the results nor the re-checking process itself, but rather a major technical glitch that has emerged on the portal. According to reports, the portal’s payment system allegedly came under a malicious attack, following which approximately 50 students gained unauthorized access to the system. Consequently, several bizarre and shocking issues related to fee payments came to light.

According to available information, when students began applying for re-evaluation, the fee amounts displayed in certain cases appeared drastically different from the standard rates. While some students saw a fee of just ₹1, for others, the amount surged to as high as ₹67,000 to ₹68,000. This sudden and drastic fluctuation in fees left both students and parents bewildered.

Sources indicate that this anomaly originated within the payment gateway linked to the portal. Preliminary investigations have revealed that certain individuals gained unauthorized access to the system, resulting in the alteration of fee amounts. Officials suspect that while in some instances these actions may have been carried out merely as a prank, other cases could potentially be driven by malicious intent.

The emergence of this issue also impacted the overall functionality of the portal. Many students complained that they were unable to submit their applications on time. The portal’s services remained disrupted for a certain period. Subsequently, technical teams immediately launched an investigation into the matter, striving to identify the root cause of the glitch.

According to government sources, altered fee amounts were detected in the cases of approximately 50 students. This situation sparked questions regarding the integrity of the payment process on the portal. However, officials have clarified that the issue is being treated with the utmost seriousness, and efforts are currently underway to enhance the system’s security to make it even more robust than before. Following this entire episode, the Ministry of Education also swung into action. On May 24, Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan held a meeting with Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman to discuss the difficulties faced by students. During the meeting, it was decided that the CBSE’s payment system would be further strengthened to ensure that such issues do not recur in the future.

To this end, four major public sector banks have been integrated into the system. These include the State Bank of India, Canara Bank, Indian Bank, and the Bank of Maharashtra. The payment gateways of these banks are being integrated with the CBSE portal to make the payment process more secure and reliable.

Assistance Sought from Major Institutions

To investigate the matter, assistance is also being sought from some of the country’s leading technical institutions. Experts from IIT Madras and IIT Kanpur are currently examining the entire system. A team from the Digital Infrastructure Corporation of India is also working alongside them. These experts are conducting a meticulous examination of the portal’s code, payment system, and security architecture to identify and rectify any potential vulnerabilities.

The technical teams have stated that their objective is to develop a system that is completely secure and capable of providing services to students without any glitches. To achieve this, continuous testing is being conducted, and additional layers of security are being incorporated.

Shifted to AWS

Sources also revealed that the portal had previously encountered certain issues related to storage space and capacity. The simultaneous login attempts by a large number of students were placing excessive strain on the system. Consequently, the portal has now been migrated to the Amazon Web Services (AWS) platform. This move will enhance the portal’s capacity, enabling the system to function smoothly even when handling a large volume of concurrent users.