The National Testing Agency has shifted its confidential and sensitive operations to a new office in central Delhi, where the premises will now be guarded by the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) and access to designated confidential areas will be strictly monitored, officials said.
The move follows the controversy over the NEET-UG question paper leak and lapses in the agency's examination-security mechanisms. The NTA's new office is located in the Government of India Press Building on Minto Road, with 39 CISF personnel deployed for security and access control.
"A dedicated over 55,000 square feet office space has been allotted in the Government of India Press Building on Minto Road. The fifth floor and parts of fourth and sixth floor of the said building have been allotted to the National Testing Agency. Confidential and sensitive operations have been shifted in the last one month to the newly allotted building," a senior official told PTI.
The CISF personnel will man entry and exit points and oversee screening and access-control measures, including frisking, X-ray baggage screening and Door Frame Metal Detectors (DFMDs).
"Confidential areas have been demarcated in the building where the movement and operations will be strictly monitored to ensure that a foolproof system is in place. The Home Ministry has approved Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) security cover for the premises," the official said.
What CBI found ?
The security overhaul comes against the backdrop of the CBI's findings in the NEET-UG paper leak case. Its chargesheet identified three subject experts as primary sources of the leaked paper and noted that there was no checking or frisking of experts while entering or leaving the confidential section of the NTA office.
The CBI found that the experts were able to take briefs from the question papers on small chits made from plain sheets provided to them for rough work and translation. It also noted the absence of a dedicated CCTV live-feed monitoring control room at the NTA office in Delhi.
The NTA, which was established in 2017 under the Ministry of Education to conduct fair, transparent and standardised examinations, had been operating from its office in Okhla.
The 2024 paper leak had earlier prompted the government to constitute a high-level committee headed by former ISRO chairman K Radhakrishnan. The panel recommended enhanced security controls for examination-critical systems, including question-paper handling, candidate registration, admit cards, computer-based testing, OMR processing, result systems and other examination workflows.
The NTA is now implementing additional measures, including strict access controls, encryption standards, immutable logging and tamper-evident storage for examination-critical workloads, the official said.
Security-readiness reviews of examination-supporting systems will also be conducted before each examination cycle, in coordination with the agency's technology and test-security teams. These will cover biometric authentication, face matching, CCTV systems and live-monitoring infrastructure.
The agency is also putting in place an examination-specific cyber-incident response mechanism, including enhanced Security Operations Centre (SOC) monitoring and rapid-response capabilities on examination days.
"To strengthen information security, the NTA has designated a dedicated chief information security officer (CISO). The position of general manager and CISO has been advertised, and the selection process is at an advanced stage," the official said.
Independent third-party cybersecurity audits by CERT-In and C-DAC-empanelled agencies are also continuing, the official added.
(With inputs from PTI)
