Who's Nisarga Adhikary? Teen who found CBSE flaw

• 19-year-old Nisarga Adhikary joins IIT Kanpur's C3iHub today
• He found security flaws in the CBSE digital marking portal
• He will now work as a threat intelligence engineer on contract

Nisarga Adhikary made headlines over his claims of vulnerabilities in the Central Board of Secondary Education's (CBSE) digital system. Today, the 19-year-old Gen Z has landed at IIT Kanpur's cybersecurity innovation hub.

Adhikary's appointment came shortly after he identified security vulnerabilities in the CBSE On-Screen Marking (OSM) portal. The Gen-Z has now been appointed as an OSINT and Threat Intelligence Engineer at C3iHub, the cybersecurity and cyber defence research centre at IIT Kanpur.

IIT Kanpur Director Professor Manindra Agrawal described Adhikary as a "talented young engineer with significant potential."

Who is Nisarga Adhikary?

• According to his LinkedIn profile, Adhikary's first internship was with the New Delhi Space Society in June 2023. He worked there as a Web Developer, gaining hands-on experience in design collaboration within a dynamic team environment.


• He then founded and led his own Hack Club and contributed to various open-source Hack Club repositories and projects. In September 2024, Adhikary joined Skann as a full-time Founding Engineer.


• After four months, he interned at Cypherock as a Software Engineer. Adhikary also interned at Wavelength, holding the same position.


• He will now work under IIT Kanpur’s cybersecurity team on a contractual basis, as per reports.


• According to institute officials, his role will involve analysing publicly available information, identifying security flaws in websites and applications, and helping organisations remediate and patch those weaknesses.


• “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 a software engineer, while cybersecurity was more of a hobby," Adhikary said, News18 reported.


• His parents are in the finance sector. Recounting his early interest in technology, he noted: “I started coding when I was six or seven years old, but I became seriously involved in cybersecurity and began participating in Capture the Flag (CTF) and other cybersecurity competitions when I was in Class 6."


• Neither Adhikary nor IIT Kanpur disclosed the salary details. However, the 19-year-old acknowledged that it was lower than he had expected.


• “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 said, the report noted.


• He said he has no plans to study further. “I want to work on building startups and products which people use. I am not much interested in academia," he said.


• Agrawal, Director of IIT Kanpur, congratulated the teenager on his role, saying that Adhikary demonstrates noteworthy technical capabilities at a young age.


• "We believe he has significant potential, and 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. We wish him the very best in his journey ahead," Agrawal said.


• Adhikary had previously identified several security flaws in the portal that, if exploited, could have exposed sensitive information related to students and schools.


• His findings highlighted cybersecurity vulnerabilities within educational technology systems and reinforced the need for regular security assessments to safeguard large volumes of sensitive data.


• Adhikary's appointment marks a significant milestone in the journey from a student researcher to a cybersecurity professional.

With inputs from agencies