After responsibly reporting vulnerabilities in India’s two biggest entrance exam systems, 16-year-old Rylen Anil found himself at the centre of a viral storm
A 16-year-old Dubai-based student, Rylen Anil, recently exposed the vulnerabilities in the systems behind India’s highly competitive NEET and JEE Advanced examinations. However, dramatic Indian media coverage triggered an unexpected reaction at home.
“When I got home from school, my parents asked if I was going to jail because the first headline we saw was ’16-year-old hacked into NTA’s (National Testing Agency) website.’ I explained what really happened and how they were proud of me for responsibly bringing this issue to light,” he told Khaleej Times on Thursday.
The Grade 12 CBSE student’s discovery drew widespread attention after he exposed security weaknesses in portals linked to two of India’s most important entrance examinations. What began as curiosity quickly became a lesson in responsible disclosure and ethical hacking.
Rylen said the idea came after a separate security breach involving CBSE’s educational portal for the board’s on-screen marking. He is among a small but growing number of young ethical hackers, alongside peers such as Nisarga and Sarthak.
“When I talked to those who hacked the CBSE gateway, I realized many portals have security issues. That’s how I got the idea to test the JEE and NEET portals.”
According to Rylen, the vulnerabilities were surprisingly easy to uncover. “It took me two or three hours to hack both portals. I did it out of curiosity.”
The teenager said he discovered significant weaknesses in the systems.
“The flaws I noticed were that the NTA portal used extremely weak credentials. The JEE portal had a misconfigured cloud server.”
He explained that the vulnerabilities potentially exposed sensitive personal information belonging to applicants.
“All applicants’ phone numbers, parents’ full names, students’ DOB, and more. These details could affect performance outcomes.”
Rather than exploiting the flaws, Rylen chose to report them through the appropriate channels.
“First I reported the vulnerabilities to CERT-In, then posted about it on Twitter. That’s how people learned about it.”
The response was far greater than he anticipated.
“When I woke the next morning, I saw the post had gone viral. At first, I was scared. I never expected to get such a massive following.”
His efforts did not go unnoticed by authorities.
“The NTA Director General, Abhishek Singh, contacted me and thanked me for identifying the vulnerabilities and bringing them to the agency’s attention.” After my report, the issue was addressed promptly.
Rylen’s fascination with technology began years earlier.
“Since Grade 8, I have explored computer systems and have always been interested in programming.”
Today, that passion has evolved into clear career ambitions.
“I want to pursue cybersecurity as a degree, and I dream of becoming the chief information security officer of a company someday.”
“I also want to pursue my education in the US,” the teenager added.
Far from viewing gaming as a distraction, Rylen credits it with sparking his interest in technology.
He feels such acts can become a powerful example of how responsible cybersecurity research can help protect millions of students and inspire a new generation to use technology for the greater good.
“My message to children is ‘continue playing games. I used to play games like Minecraft and Fortnite. That’s how I got inspired. It helps children develop an interest in computer science and you can end up doing something great for the world.’
He also acknowledges the role educators played in shaping his journey.
“My teachers at school have steered me in the right direction ever since I expressed my passion. They motivated me to participate in competitions and gave me many opportunities throughout my journey.”
For Rylen, the episode highlights the positive role ethical hackers can play in strengthening digital systems.
“Ethical hacking can expose vulnerabilities in normal portals of organisations, making it eventually more secure.”
© Khaleej Times
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