A 19-year-old cybersecurity researcher, whose claims of vulnerabilities inCBSE’s on-screen marking system (OSM) set off a national debate, has been recruited by IIT Kanpur, though for a salary less than what he hoped for.
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Nisarga Adhikary, who cleared his Class 12 examinations this year, has been appointed as an Open-IIT Kanpur’s cybersecurity innovation hub, C3iHub. His appointment comes weeks after a blog post detailing alleged security flaws in CBSE’s OSM portal drew national attention and led to scrutiny of the board’s digital evaluation infrastructure.
ALSO READ |IIT Kanpur hires Nisarga Adhikary, teen who flagged flaws with CBSE’s OSM system
Salary expectations
While neither Adhikary nor IIT Kanpur disclosed the exact remuneration attached to the role, the teenager acknowledged that it was lower than he had anticipated, particularly after working on projects for US-based companies.
“The salary is decent, but I was expecting a bit more. I’m used to working on projects and with companies based in the US, and I do miss the financial advantage that comes with earning in dollars because of the USD-INR conversion,” he told HT.
IIT Kanpur director Manindra Agrawal said he contacted Adhikary after reading his blog post on theCBSE portal.
“Nisarga Adhikary has been appointed as an engineer in our cybersecurity team. A few years ago, we had similarly recruited a couple of young engineers for the same team. I am not sure whether he is the youngest recruit at IIT Kanpur, but he is certainly among the youngest engineers to have been hired by the institute,” Agrawal said.
What the job entails
At the institute, Adhikary will work on analysing publicly available information and identifying vulnerabilities in websites and applications, helping organisations detect and address potential security risks. He has been appointed on a contractual basis under IIT Kanpur’s cybersecurity team.
Speaking about the role, Adhikary told HT, “I am excited about this opportunity because it is the first time I will be working in a security-focused role. In my earlier jobs, I primarily worked as asoftware engineer, while cybersecurity was more of a hobby.”
Although still at the start of adulthood, he says he already has industry experience with startups and engineering teams. “And also worked as a founding engineer at one point.Also worked at some VC-funded large startups,” he told HT earlier.
ALSO READ |How a Class 12 student became a techie at 19, allegedly breached CBSE test site
CBSE OSM controversy
Adhikary came to be known after he discovered multiple vulnerabilities inCBSE’s OSM system, which was introduced this year for the evaluation of Class 12 board examination answer scripts. According to his claims, only one issue was addressed initially, while others remained unresolved until the portal was eventually taken down.
One of the more serious allegations he described involved what he called a “master password” issue that could potentially bypass security controls in a testing environment. CBSE has maintained that the vulnerabilities were limited to a testing portal and did not impact the actual evaluation system.
Adhikary’s work on the issue began, he said, out of curiosity after noticing widespread discussion around the newly introduced system. “So in February when exams are going on, CBSE just said that they will do OSM this year. And this has been criticized all over media. People are furious,” he said. He added that he began examining how the system processed data by studying publicly accessible code loaded in browsers.
“I started reading the code which was being fetched to the browser when you open the portal,” he told HT earlier.
No one in his family works in cybersecurity, he said, with both parents employed in finance.
Agrawal believes IIT Kanpur can provide the environment needed for the young researcher to further develop his skills. “Adhikari is undoubtedly very talented, but he still has a great deal to learn and further develop his capabilities. IIT Kanpur offers him that opportunity. I believe he will do very well if he continues to work hard,” he said.
