The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has issued a statement addressing concerns raised over vulnerabilities detected in its OnMark portal, which is managed by its service provider. The issue had been highlighted in the public domain, prompting the board to initiate immediate corrective action.
CBSE confirmed that cybersecurity experts from multiple government departments and Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) have been deployed to review and strengthen the system.
CBSE Statement On Portal Security
In its official response, CBSE said: “We have been closely monitoring the vulnerabilities in the OnMark portal of our service provider that are being flagged in the public domain. An expert team of cybersecurity professionals has been deployed over the last few days from across various arms of the government as well as the IITs to fortify these systems, including taking them over to a more secure set up. The identified vulnerabilities have been contained, and other exploitable weaknesses are being ruled out.”
The board further added that the identified issues have already been contained, and additional checks are underway to ensure that no further exploitable weaknesses remain in the system.
Appreciation For Ethical Hackers And Citizens
CBSE also acknowledged the role of citizens and ethical hackers who helped bring attention to the issue. “We are grateful to all alert citizens and ethical hackers pointing out such weaknesses, and have gotten in touch with some of them directly.”
Contact Details Shared For Further Inputs
CBSE has also requested individuals with further security concerns or technical inputs to reach out directly to its cybersecurity team. “We request any others to reach out to our security teams at secy-cbse@nic.in for any further inputs.”
