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CBSE said vulnerabilities in its answer-sheet evaluation portal have been contained, while the board plans action against its service provider over the lapses.
NSUI members protest over the CBSE’s OSM system (Photo: PTI)
The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) will impose penalties on its On-Screen Marking (OSM) service provider, Coempt Edu Teck, following concerns about vulnerabilities in the online answer-sheet evaluation portal, according to a Hindustan Times report.
As scrutiny intensified over the digital evaluation system used for Class 12 answer-sheet marking, CBSE on Sunday said that vulnerabilities flagged in the OnMark portal had been “contained” and that cybersecurity experts from multiple government agencies and the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) had been deployed to strengthen the platform.
According to the report, the Hyderabad-based company is likely to face financial penalties under provisions detailed in a CBSE tender issued on August 28, 2025.
The report stated that the tender included a range of escalating penalties tied to delays in resolving technical issues, including a fine of Rs 1 lakh for every 15-minute delay in rectifying a problem once a CBSE official flags it.
The report further noted that while the original tender contained a provision to blacklist the vendor for serious lapses, that clause was later removed through a corrigendum issued on September 20, 2025.
Coempt Edu Teck was eventually awarded the contract on December 5, according to the report.
Amid the controversy, CBSE issued a statement on X, saying it had been “closely monitoring the vulnerabilities in the OnMark portal of our service provider that are being flagged in the public domain.”
“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 said.
CBSE also thanked “alert citizens and ethical hackers” who had highlighted possible weaknesses in the system.
The issue surfaced at a time when CBSE has been under pressure following reports of technical failures in its post-result portal and discrepancies in evaluated answer sheets.
Lok Sabha Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi also questioned the transparency of the tender process linked to the OSM digital evaluation system.
In a post on X, Gandhi alleged that technical norms were repeatedly diluted to allow a particular company to secure the contract.
ANI reported that he cited modifications to conditions related to scanning resolution standards, robotic scanner requirements and software certification norms.
The development comes just ahead of the opening of CBSE’s Post-Result Activities portal for Class 12 students seeking verification and re-evaluation of answer books.
Starting Monday, students will be able to apply for verification and re-evaluation through the portal.
According to IANS, nearly four lakh students have already accessed around 11 lakh scanned answer sheets through the portal.
The agency added that re-evaluation requests would be reviewed by subject experts and marks updated if discrepancies are found.
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