India’s Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Monday
disclosed that it has detained a Russian national for allegedly
hacking into a software platform used to conduct engineering
entrance assessments in the country in 2021.
“The said accused was detained by the Bureau of Immigration at
Indira Gandhi International Airport, Delhi while arriving in India
from Almaty, Kazakhstan,” the primary investigating agency said[1] in a press release.
The name of the individual was not disclosed by the agency, but
Indian news reports identified the person as Mikhail Shargin[2].
The CBI further said that Shargin’s role was uncovered as part
of its investigation into alleged irregularities committed in the
Joint Entrance Examination (JEE-Main[3]) conducted last year.
JEE is a standardized test used for admissions to engineering
colleges in India.
The September 2021 incident, per the agency, involved breaking
into iLeon software, the platform on which the exam was held, with
the goal of granting remote access to a specific set of
co-conspirators, who then solved the questions on the students’
behalf.
Shargin’s associates have been accused of “manipulating the
online examination of JEE (Mains) and facilitating aspiring
students to get admission in top NITs[4]
in consideration of huge amount by solving the question paper of
the applicant through remote access from a chosen examination
center in Sonepat (Haryana),” the CBI noted.
The cheating scheme also incorporated a financial element in
that the operators charged approximately 12-15 lakh Rupees
($14,700-$18,400) from each candidate once the aspirants secured
their admissions.
The CBI stated it conducted[5]
searches at 19 places last year across the cities of Delhi, Pune,
Jamshedpur, Indore, and Bangalore, leading to the seizure of 25
laptops, seven PCs, along with other incriminating evidence.
References
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