The 2024 NEET Paper Leak: Implications for Digital Security in India

As the 2024 NEET paper controversy continues to impact students' lives and jeopardise the future of more than 24 lakh students, it triggered discussions on how technology could potentially mitigate some of the security challenges in these high-stakes exams.

- ABHINAV MEHROTRA & AMIT UPADHYAY

However, the fact that the paper was leaked on the dark web, which is the hidden part of the internet that is not indexed by regular search engines and circulated on telegrams, also highlights the failure of the present digital system. Many exams worldwide have started using digital systems to mitigate such security incidents, allowing for greater reliability, fairness and inclusion in high-stakes exams. Still, the existing digital divide and its unique challenges are also to be considered while discussing any potential shift in policy.

Even though the proposed Digital India Act, 2023 was placed for consultation on 9th March 2023 by then Minister of State for the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MEITY), Mr Rajeev Chandrasekhar, to replace the Information Technology Act of 2000 (IT Act), the concerns continue to exist. The Act is crucial to ensuring India's secure, accountable and innovative digital future. However, issues like the NEET and UGC NET paper leaks raise questions regarding the safety of India's digital architecture and the kind of controls that the government can exercise in such situations. In the past, on the occurrence of any such situations, the steps taken by the government include blocking or throttling of mobile communications, websites, social media and messaging applications that have affected the promotion and protection of the exercise of rights over the internet and have been condemned by international organisations like the UN.