The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) said its re-evaluation portal was targeted by cyberattacks from malicious actors on Tuesday [1].
The disruption occurred during a critical window for students seeking to challenge exam results, highlighting vulnerabilities in the board's digital infrastructure during high-traffic periods.
According to a CBSE spokesperson, the attacks included a denial-of-service (DoS) attack that generated 1.5 million hits within two minutes [4]. The board also reported more than 100,000 attempts at unauthorized file access [4]. These attacks coincided with a period of high demand as students rushed to submit their requests.
The portal's launch was marked by several delays. It was originally scheduled for May 29, 2026, but was postponed to June 1, 2026 [5]. After missing that second deadline, the platform finally went live around 4:30 a.m. on June 2 [5].
Despite the cyberattacks, CBSE officials said the portal remained operational. A CBSE official said the portal was supporting nearly 14,000 concurrent users with over 28,000 successful submissions as of 10 p.m. on June 2 [3].
The board said the instability was due to the actions of malicious actors attempting to disrupt the system during the student rush [4]. The agency has not yet identified the origin of the attacks.
“"malicious actors" targeted its re-evaluation portal with a series of cyberattacks”
The timing of the attack suggests a coordinated effort to exploit the system's instability during a peak usage window. By targeting the portal immediately after a series of launch delays, the attackers capitalized on existing technical friction and student anxiety. This incident underscores the persistent security challenges faced by large-scale Indian educational platforms when transitioning to fully digital administrative processes.
