Nisarga Adhikary, a 19-year-old who highlighted alleged security vulnerabilities in the Central Board of Secondary Education’s (CBSE) On-Screen Marking (OSM) system, has been recruited by IIT Kanpur’s cybersecurity research centre, officials said on Thursday.

Adhikary, who recently completed Class 12, has joined C3iHub, IIT Kanpur’s cybersecurity and cyber defence innovation centre, as an Open-Source Intelligence (OSINT) and Threat Intelligence Engineer on a contractual basis.

He drew attention earlier this year after raising concerns about alleged weaknesses in the CBSE’s OSM platform, including issues related to access controls, password management and authentication. The CBSE maintained that the vulnerabilities were confined to a testing environment and did not impact the live evaluation system.

IIT Kanpur Director Manindra Agrawal said Adhikary had demonstrated strong technical capabilities and would have the opportunity to further develop his skills while contributing to cybersecurity initiatives at C3iHub.

According to IIT Kanpur officials, Adhikary’s role will involve analysing publicly available information, identifying vulnerabilities in digital systems and supporting cybersecurity threat assessment efforts.

Speaking about his appointment, Adhikary said it was his first full-time role focused exclusively on cybersecurity, having previously worked as a software engineer with startup teams and overseas companies.

He said his examination of the CBSE portal began after noticing criticism surrounding the OSM system during the board examination season, leading him to analyse publicly accessible code and identify what he described as multiple security weaknesses.

Inputs from PTI

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