CBSE says re-evaluation portal targeted by cyberattack from ‘malicious actors’

PAyment failures, login hurdle race, and an alleged cyberattack disrupted the number one daytime of the exchange room of Secondary Education’s (CBSE) re-launched re-evaluation portal on Tuesday, with several Class 12 students reporting severe difficulties in accessing critical services, even as thousands successfully submitted their applications.Earlier in the day, CBSE took to social media to allege that “malicious actors” had attempted to cripple the platform shortly after it went live — days after its original launch date. The disruption, the board said, included a major denial-of-service (DoS) attack that flooded the network with 1.5 million hits within a two-minute window, over 100,000 unauthorised attempts to access files, while maintaining that the portal at one point supported nearly 14,000 concurrent users, with over 28,000 successful submissions as of 10 pm on Tuesday.“The CBSE revaluation portal is currently supporting over 8,000 concurrent users. As of 3 PM today, more than 16,000 students have successfully completed their submissions. While thousands of students accessed the CBSE re-evaluation portal today, malicious actors attempted to disrupt services through a barrage of cyberattacks. Most recent being a denial of service attack attempt causing 1.5 million hits on the portal within a matter of 2 minutes and more than 1 lakh attempts of unauthorised file access,” CBSE said in a post on X.Also Read | A teen whistleblower, portal chaos, cyberattacks and a leadership shake-up: How CBSE's OSM row snowballedPortal's launch was delayed twiceThe portal’s launch has faced a rocky timeline. Originally scheduled for May 29, the rollout was postponed to June 1, missed that deadline as well, and finally went live around 4.30 am on June 2. The platform allows students to request verification and re-evaluation of their answer scripts. While CBSE handles the front-end application process, the actual re-evaluation is managed via Coempt’s OnMark platform — the same system utilised for the initial digital evaluation.Over the course of the day, students highlighted several critical bottlenecks. “I paid ₹175 for CBSE re-evaluation through UPI. The amount got deducted successfully, transaction completed, even ‘payment received by CBSE’ shown in receipt yet the portal showed payment failed,” said Shikhar Singh, a Delhi private school student.Many faced difficulties logging in. “I filled in all the required details to log in but the portal repeatedly shows ‘failed’ and does not proceed further. I faced this issue at least five times and then I tried in the evening and I was able to login,” said Aashi Mishra, a student from Bareilly, Uttar Pradesh.A student from a private school in Delhi, requesting anonymity, said the portal repeatedly rejected details entered by the student. “I entered all the correct details for applying; however, the website was not accepting them and was telling me the details are wrong. I have tried 10 times, but still, there was no progress. I will try again tomorrow,” the student said.Some students also said they were unable to apply for verification and re-evaluation because they had not yet received scanned copies of their answer books. “I had applied for my Chemistry answer sheet on May 22 but I have yet to receive it. I have mailed the CBSE but did not get any response. It is frustrating,” said Ananya Tripathi, a Class 12 student from Delhi.Portal to remain active till June 6 midnightThe portal will remain open from June 2 to 6 (midnight), and no offline applications or requests submitted after the deadline will be accepted. After logging in using details such as roll number, date of birth and Aadhaar number, students seeking re-evaluations are required to specify the question number, page number where the answer appears, marks awarded, marks they believe they deserve and reasons for seeking re-evaluation, including instances where they believe their answer matches the marking scheme but has received fewer marks.Students, who applied for scanned copies of answer sheets between May 19 and 25 and have received them, can raise question-wise objections till June 6. These objections will then be reviewed by subject experts through the On-Screen Marking (OSM) system.Based on student feedback, CBSE said it has further refined the platform, including extending session time limits, to make the process more convenient and seamless. “Our teams remain vigilant and responsive to ensure our dearest students are facilitated in all ways possible,” it said.Meanwhile, in a circular issued on Tuesday, CBSE said that Aadhaar verification has been newly integrated into the login workflow as an explicit security measure.“For children who do not have Aadhaar, the parent’s, relatives or guardian’s Aadhaar details may be used. In this case, the Aadhaar name, date of birth and gender must be of the person whose Aadhaar number is used,” it said.CBSE did not respond to HT’s queries on how Aadhaar improved the security of the portal. The re-evaluation process comes under increased scrutiny following technical glitches and complaints linked to CBSE’s post-result services.CBSE has acknowledged around 20 cases of answer-sheet mix-ups after declaration of results.