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Nisarga Adhikary, a 19-year-old ethical hacker from West Bengal, was hired by IIT Kanpur after discovering significant security vulnerabilities.
NSUI activists raise slogans during a protest, alleging irregularities in the Central Board of Secondary Education's (CBSE) On-Screen Marking (OSM) evaluation system, outside the board's headquarters at Patparganj, in New Delhi, Saturday, May 30, 2026. (PTI Photo) (PTI)Nisarga Adhikary, a 19-year-old ethical hacker from West Bengal, has been hired by the Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur after independently uncovering multiple security vulnerabilities, although the offered salary was lower than he had expected, according to a report by Hindustan Times.
“The salary is decent, but I was expecting a bit more. I’m used to working on projects and with companies based in the US, and I do miss the financial advantage that comes with earning in dollars because of the USD-INR conversion,” he told HT.
Among the issues he reported were critical flaws that enabled OTP bypass, unauthorised access to examiner accounts through a hardcoded master password, and the possibility of gaining access to millions of students’ answer sheets.
What is his job?
At IIT Kanpur, Nisarga Adhikary will be responsible for analysing publicly available information and uncovering security weaknesses in websites and applications, assisting organisations in identifying and mitigating potential cyber threats, as reported by HT.
He has joined the institute’s cybersecurity team on a contractual appointment.
OSM portal was not "thoroughly" tested for functionality: IIT panel
The On-Screen Marking (OSM) portal, which is used to evaluate the Class XII answer sheets of lakhs of students, was not subjected to comprehensive testing or an adequate assessment of its functionality, security weaknesses, and potential risks before being deployed, according to a member of the Indian Institute of Technology panel reviewing the Central Board of Secondary Education post-result ecosystem, who spoke to ANI.
The IIT panel, formed in response to the controversy surrounding the OSM portal, is expected to submit its findings and recommendations to the Ministry of Education within the next few days.
"It was not thoroughly tested. It is not like it (the portal) was not tested, there was an auditor hired by CBSE who tested it and gave its go ahead and everything. But a through analaysis was not done, that should have been done. The auditing was not suficient," the member of the IIT panel told ANI on the condition of anonymity.
The member also clarified that while the ethical hacking incident exposed serious vulnerabilities, there was no evidence to suggest that student records had been leaked or misused. "I spoke to Nisarga. He was able to download some data, but deleted it. We have not observed any evidence of records being leaked outside. It was an ethical hack," the member said.
The portal was created and managed by a private IT service provider named Coempt Eduteck, which is at the centre of the Class XII result controversy.
"The auditing was done, and some vulnerabilities were found, but several others were missed. Systems handling critical data require deeper and more rigorous security analysis," the panel member said.
(With inputs from agencies)
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