CUP cancels exams after hackers access online question bank

Sameer Singh

Tribune News Service

Bathinda, July 10

The Central University of Punjab (CUP), Bathinda, has cancelled examinations for 13 subjects after its online question bank was hacked.

In the wake of the Covid-19 outbreak, the university has gone for online mode of examination for the current academic session. However, hackers attacked the cyber security system used by the university to conduct online examination and accessed the question bank.

Talking to The Tribune, Vice-Chancellor, CUP, Prof RK Kohli said, “As many as 13 exams had to be cancelled after the online examination system was found to be compromised. We have asked faculty members to work out modalities to reschedule dates of exams for these subjects.”

Previously, the exams were conducted on the campus by using intranet. To facilitate students during the pandemic, this year the online mode was adopted by the CUP. The university had conducted two mock exams successfully to check the efficiency of the new online platform.

Prof Kohli said, “I received an email from an unknown person where it was mentioned that the question bank used by the university to conduct online exams was hacked.”

He said, “We found that some students, who earlier scored less marks, scored exceptionally well. A majority of these students are from Kerala. We have registered a complaint with the police and an internal inquiry will be conducted at the university level.”