THE Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) revaluation portal’s payment system was hit by a “malicious attack”, with around 50 students gaining unauthorised access, Government sources said on Friday. “There were some unauthorised attack on the portal. The payment gateway was with respect to HDFC payment gateway. About 50-odd children had got in,” a source said. According to the sources, the issue led to abnormal fee displays on the portal, where the payable amount in some cases fluctuated from around Rs 1 to nearly Rs 67,000-68,000. “I think out of fun or out of mala fide intention, I think that one rupee was shown and then Rs 67-68,000. So, there were about 50 children in whose case the amount had changed,” the source said. The glitch was linked to the HDFC payment gateway integrated with the system and occurred when the portal went live.

 

“I think the portal for quite some time was not functional. There were issues with respect to the amount where 50 children came in, and they manipulated the system,” the source said. Four PSU banks - State Bank of India, Canara Bank, Indian Bank and Bank of Maharashtra - have also been integrated as additional payment gateways. Experts from IIT Madras and IIT Kanpur, along with Digital Infrastructure Corporation of India, are examining the system and strengthening the portal and payment gateway integration, the source said. “The teams are examining the code and the system to make it seamless and glitch-free,” the person added. On May 24, Pradhan had held discussions with Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman regarding the recent payment and technical issues faced by students during the CBSE post-result and revaluation processes.