Was the NTA Website Hacked? Officials Refute Claims
New Delhi: Amid the speculations of a possibility of hack in the National Testing Agency's (NTA) website, the officials have refuted such claims.
NTA website and all its other web portals are fully secure, and reports that these have been compromised and hacked are wrong and misleading, officials said on Sunday.
The clarification comes amid a row over alleged irregularities in competitive exams, including the NEET-UG and the UGC-NET. The education ministry on Saturday set up a panel to review the NTA’s functioning, recommend exam reforms and ensure data security.
Recently a media report claimed that the website of NTA, the authority in charge of conducting the National Eligibility-Entrance Test Undergraduate (NEET-UG) examination, was hacked until June 18.
Also Read: NEET 2024: SC adjourns plea alleging NTA officers involvement in manipulating OMR Sheets
The news report by Zee Business claimed that the NTA website was hacked until 18th June 2024 and its data was showing on the dark web. Referring to the arrest of a school principal in Hazaribagh, the report mentioned that when the question paper reached the school, its digital lock did not open and it had to be opened using a gas cutter. As per the report, CBI suspects that the digital lock was already opened previously and it was not locked again. That is why it had to be opened using a gas cutter.
However, the officials have now issued a clarification in this regard and they have mentioned that the NTA website and all its web portals are fully secure. The officials refuted the allegations of the portal being hacked and compromised and referred to these reports as wrong and misleading, PTI has reported.
"NTA website and all its web portals are fully secure. Any information that they have been compromised and hacked is wrong and misleading," a senior official said.
CBI is currently investigating the allegations of paper leak in the NEET-UG 2024 exam. Medical Dialogues has been reporting about the NEET UG 2024 paper leak controversies. The allegations of paper leak first came to light in Bihar. Around 13 people, including four examinees and their family members, were arrested in Bihar for their alleged involvement in the paper leak of the NEET-UG exam. Patna police sources had previously claimed that the NEET-UG question papers along with their answers were provided to around 20 aspirants a day before the date of the exam i.e. May 5, 2024.
Then, the Economic Offences Unit (EOU) of Bihar Police, which took over the investigation, revealed that the brokers involved in the NEET paper leak scam took between Rs 30 lakh to Rs 50 lakh from each of the medical aspirants in exchange for giving them the question paper of the NEET UG 2024 question paper ahead of the examination.
Multiple pleas have been filed before the High Courts and the Supreme Court seeking an investigation into the alleged paper leak scam. Some of the pleas demanded the scrapping of the NEET UG 2024 exam and holding a retest. The Central Government on June 22, 2024, handed over the charge of investigation in the alleged irregularities in the NEET UG 2024 examination to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).
"Certain cases of alleged irregularities / cheating / impersonation / malpractices have been reported. For transparency on the conduct of the examination process, the Ministry of Education, Government of India after a review has decided to entrust the matter to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) for comprehensive investigation," the Ministry of Education stated in a release.
The CBI is currently planning to seek the custody of all 18 accused for interrogation. Currently all the accused- including 13 from Patna and 5 from Jharkhand- are in judicial custody. While investigating the case, earlier the Economic Offences Wing (EOU) had arrested these individuals. However, later the case was handed over to CBI on Monday.
