IIT-Kanpur hires teen who flagged CBSE's OSM system flaws
What's the story
Nisarga Adhikary, the teenager who identified security vulnerabilities in the Central Board of Secondary Education's (CBSE) Online Submission of Marks (OSM) portal, has been hired as an Open-Source Intelligence (OSINT) and threat intelligence engineer at C3iHub. The technology innovation hub is part of the Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur (IIT Kanpur). IIT Kanpur director Manindra Agrawal said he reached out to the teen after reading that post, published on May 22.
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He is among the youngest engineers
"Nisarga Adhikary has been appointed as an engineer in our cybersecurity team," Agrawal said. "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," he added. "Working at IIT Kanpur will provide him with the opportunity to further develop his capabilities while contributing to cybersecurity and threat intelligence initiatives at C3iHub."
Vulnerability report
Adhikary discovered vulnerabilities in CBSE's online marks portal
The OSM portal is a crucial digital platform for CBSE-affiliated schools to upload and manage students' examination marks. Adhikary had discovered multiple security vulnerabilities on the portal that could have exposed sensitive information. These included issues with access controls and data security. Instead of exploiting these flaws, he responsibly disclosed them to authorities. Following directions from Union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan, IIT Madras and IIT Kanpur deputed a four-member team to help CBSE address glitches in its post-result services portal.
Career path
Salary not disclosed
Adhikary, who cleared his Class 12 exams this year, will now analyze actionable information from publicly available sources at IIT Kanpur. He'll also identify vulnerabilities in websites and applications to help organizations address potential security flaws. Although he was expecting a higher salary, Adhikary said the remuneration is decent but lower than expected. "I'm used to working on projects and with companies based in the US...I do miss the financial advantage that comes with earning in dollars," he said.
Personal journey
I want to work on building startups and products: Adhikary
Adhikary started coding at a young age and got serious about cybersecurity in Class 6. He participated in Capture the Flag (CTF) competitions to hone his ethical hacking skills. Despite his family's finance background, he chose to pursue cybersecurity as a career. "I want to work on building on startups and products which people use," Adhikary said, adding that he isn't interested in academia for now.