'Misleading, factually incorrect': Education Ministry on allegation of JEE (Advanced) exam data breach
New Delhi, June 5
The Union Education Ministry on Friday dismissed allegations of data breach in Joint Entrance Examination results, deprecating attempts to undermine public trust in the examination conducted by IIT Roorkee for more than 1.79 lakh students.
In a message on social media platform X, the Ministry said, "There have been several misleading and factually incorrect reports regarding data breach and privacy violations with respect to students who took JEE (Advanced) examination."
"As per the clarification issued by IIT Roorkee, the Ministry reiterates that no sensitive information was compromised, and the examination outcomes, marks, and candidate information remain completely secure, intact, and safe," it added.
IIT Roorkee also assuaged concerns of admission seekers and their parents by junking claims about the alleged breach of data made on social media.
It said that deliberate attempts to misrepresent a technical event and undermine public trust in the examination system are "deeply concerning" and should be discouraged.
The JEE Advanced exam is the qualifying exam for aspirants seeking admission to 23 premier Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs).
The IIT Roorkee on social media said, "Claims of a data breach and privacy violation affecting lakhs of JEE (Advanced) aspirants are misleading and factually incorrect."
"The information circulating on social media is misleading and does not accurately reflect what happened. There is an attempt at spreading misinformation, which is far from the truth," IIT Roorkee added.
"On June 2, 2026, certain technical interventions were undertaken on an expedited basis to assist candidates experiencing difficulties in accessing admit card data and to ensure the smooth functioning of the registration process. These interventions resulted in a minimal, temporary misconfiguration in a cloud storage component," it said.
"An ethical hacker, Rylen Anil, identified this misconfiguration and reported that he could access the concerned database. The issue was immediately rectified and access to the data was restricted. The affected storage was read only, meaning no data could be edited or deleted. An analysis of cloud access logs confirmed that no bulk download occurred (the read-only access was limited to less than 0.05 per cent of the data)," the Institute said.
"No sensitive information was compromised or mass-extracted. This incident had zero impact on examination outcomes, including marks, ranks, and category of the candidates," the Institute added.
"IIT Roorkee remains fully committed to maintaining the integrity, security, and transparency of the JEE (Advanced) and Joint Seat Allocation Authority counselling processes," it said.
"Deliberate attempts to misrepresent this technical event and undermine public trust in the examination system are deeply concerning and should be discouraged. The JEE (Advanced) team looks forward to supporting every aspirant through a smooth and secure admission process into IITs and IISc," the Institute added.
The rumours over JEE Advanced have come close to the National Testing Agency's earlier decision to cancel the NEET-UG 2026 due to a exam paper leak and schedule a re-examination on June 21.
— IANS
Reader Comments
Look, I get that they want to protect the system's reputation, but the way they downplay every breach is concerning. First NEET, now this. Saying 'no data was compromised' but an ethical hacker accessed 0.05% of data? That's still a breach in my books. We need stricter protocols, not PR statements. 😒
As a parent of a JEE aspirant, I was really worried when I saw these rumors. But this explanation makes sense—technical glitches happen, and they fixed it quickly. The hacker even helped by reporting it. We need to trust our institutions more. JEE Advanced is one exam that's always been fair. 💪
I'm an NRI based in the US, and my son gave JEE Advanced this year. This news was alarming initially, but the Ministry's response seems prompt and thorough. The read-only access and logs confirming no bulk download are reassuring. But India's exam ecosystem needs to invest more in cybersecurity—prevention is better than cure.
Every year, there's some drama around competitive exams. This time it's a misconfiguration that was fixed in hours. Meanwhile, students waste time worrying instead of studying. The real issue is how easily misinformation spreads on social media. Glad the Ministry clarified so quickly. Jaane do yaar, focus on your prep! 🎯
It's ironic that they talk about 'undermining public trust' when the NTA just had to cancel NEET over a paper leak. The system is clearly fragile. This JEE thing might be minor,
We welcome thoughtful discussions from our readers. Please keep comments respectful and on-topic.