00:00If you could hack it in 30 minutes, would you say there are several other kids like you who could
00:05have done it?
00:06Yes.
00:06A newly launched CBSE system meant to digitize answer sheet evaluation came under scrutiny
00:11after a 19-year-old ethical hacker claimed he found major vulnerabilities within hours of testing it.
00:16I could put marks on the sheets assigned to that teacher. That was the most scary part.
00:22Nisar Gadhikari said he was simply curious when CBSE introduced its new on-screen marking system
00:28where examiners assessed scanned answer sheets on computers instead of physical copies.
00:33But according to the class 12 student from West Bengal, what he found inside the portal was alarming.
00:37So I tried to log in as an examiner, I recorded it and I was successfully able to log in
00:43and there was an option to change grades also and I could grade papers myself.
00:48Adhikari claimed the system had multiple flaws that could allow almost anyone with basic technical knowledge
00:53to bypass OTP authentication, impersonate examiners, reset passwords and even alter student marks.
00:59I came across the most like disastrous part which was the master password being hardcoded.
01:04I used that password and I could log in as any examiner with their user ID.
01:09He also claimed it was one of the easiest hacks of his life
01:12and alleged that even someone without advanced programming knowledge could exploit the system.
01:17I reported five or six vulnerabilities, they only fixed one.
01:20And I sent another report last night about another vulnerability I found last night
01:24which was really severe and they took all the portals down.
01:28CBSC however denied that its on-screen marking portal had been hacked.
01:32In a statement posted on X, the board said the evaluation portal used for checking answer books
01:36had a different URL and had neither been compromised nor suffered any security breach.
01:42The controversy came at a time when several students had already been raising concerns
01:45over irregularities in this year's CBSC evaluation process.
01:49After the results were declared, many students alleged that scanned answer sheets appeared incomplete,
01:54some pages were missing and in certain cases the handwriting did not match what they had originally written.
01:59Union Education Minister Dharmedra Pradhan directed senior officials to look into the matter
02:03saying student interests remained paramount and corrective measures had to be taken on priority.
02:09I just hope that they take students more seriously.
02:15Thank you everybody.
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