IIT Roorkee on Friday dismissed reports claiming that a major data breach had compromised the personal information of lakhs of JEE (Advanced) aspirants, describing the allegations as “misleading” and “factually inaccurate.” In a statement shared on X, the institute clarified that the information being circulated online does not present the complete picture and accused some sections of spreading misinformation regarding the incident.

According to IIT Roorkee, technical measures were introduced on June 2 to help candidates who were facing difficulties while accessing their admit cards and to ensure the registration system functioned smoothly. During this process, a temporary and minor misconfiguration occurred in one of the cloud storage systems. The institute said the issue was identified by ethical hacker Rylen Anil, who informed authorities that the database could be accessed. IIT Roorkee stated that the problem was fixed immediately and access permissions were restricted without delay.

The institution further explained that the affected storage system had “read-only” access, meaning no data could be altered or deleted. After reviewing cloud access logs, officials confirmed that there was no bulk download or mass extraction of candidate information. IIT Roorkee added that the exposure was limited to less than 0.05% of the data and that no sensitive details were compromised.

The institute also emphasized that the incident had no effect on examination-related outcomes, including candidates’ marks, rankings, or category details. Reaffirming its commitment to secure admissions and examination processes, IIT Roorkee said it remains dedicated to maintaining the integrity, transparency, and security of both JEE (Advanced) and JoSAA counselling procedures.

The statement also expressed concern over what it described as attempts to misrepresent the technical issue and weaken public confidence in the examination system. “The JEE (Advanced) team remains committed to supporting every aspirant through a smooth and secure admission process into IITs and IISc,” the institute added.

Disclaimer: This image is taken from ANI.