Exam mess casts cyber scare over education

livemint.com:

Mumbai/New Delhi: Millions of students vying for coveted colleges and courses makes India's vast education sector a prime target for cybercrime, experts said, at a time authorities have pointed to leaked question papers appearing in the so-called dark net. Besides, data of innumerable students may also be vulnerable to unauthorized access and misuse. Amid widespread student protests over the past two weeks, the government has raced to withdraw grace marks in the pre-medical entrance exam for MBBS and related courses, cancelled an exam for junior research fellowships at universities, and postponed another exam to admit students to post-graduate medical courses.

“So far, the use of digital technologies in assessments has been limited," said Akhilesh Tuteja, global head for cybersecurity at KPMG. “Only the management and storage of assessment papers is digital, but technology is moving at a faster pace and security needs to catch up." He sad bigger risks may emerge when more aspects of education become digital. "Cybercrimes mimic physical crimes.

The attacks are now on question papers, databases, etc., but in the future, we may see cyberattacks leading to unauthorized score card changes and deepfakes," he cautioned. The national entrance exams faced criticism after an astonishing 67 students secured full marks in the latest National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (Undergraduate) or NEET, which ranks students for medical, dental, nursing and related courses. The controversy heightened with the surfacing of grace marks and the arrest of several individuals believed to have sold leaked question papers for millions.