Cyber ​​Attack on CBSE! What Exactly Is a Denial-of-Service Attack, and Why Does It Cause Chaos in the Digital World?

What is a Denial-of-Service Attack: Recently, the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) reported that its re-evaluation and verification portal came under cyberattack. At the time, thousands of students were using the portal to submit their applications. However, thanks to the vigilance of the security teams, services remained unaffected, and a large number of student applications were successfully accepted.

What Information Did CBSE Provide?

According to CBSE, more than 8,000 students were active on the re-evaluation portal simultaneously at one point. By 3:00 PM yesterday, over 16,000 students had already submitted their applications. During this period, certain cybercriminals attempted to disrupt the portal's services.

The Board stated that the most significant attack was executed using Denial-of-Service (DoS) techniques. During this attack, approximately 1.5 million requests were sent to the portal within a span of just two minutes. Additionally, over 100,000 attempts to gain unauthorized access to system files were recorded.

What is a Denial-of-Service (DoS) Attack?

A Denial-of-Service, or DoS, attack is a type of cyberattack designed to make a website, server, or online service inaccessible to legitimate users.

Under normal circumstances, a website processes incoming requests with ease. However, during a DoS attack, attackers flood the system with such a massive volume of fake or superfluous requests within a very short timeframe that the server comes under sudden, immense pressure.

When a server is forced to handle traffic exceeding its capacity, the website's performance may slow down; it may crash repeatedly, or it could shut down completely.

How Does This Attack Cause Disruption?

Suppose a portal is designed to handle a few thousand users at a time. If it is suddenly inundated with hundreds of thousands of requests, its resources begin to deplete rapidly. In such a scenario, legitimate users may face difficulties logging in, pages may take longer to load, or the service may shut down completely. Such attacks can have particularly severe repercussions on portals associated with examinations, banking, ticket booking, or government services.

Why do cybersecurity experts consider this dangerous?

Experts believe that a DoS attack is not limited merely to slowing down a website. It disrupts the operations of organizations, degrades the user experience, and often leads to the interruption of critical services.

In some instances, cybercriminals also utilize such attacks to divert the attention of security teams. While the team is occupied with keeping the website operational, attackers may attempt to breach other systems or steal sensitive information.

How did the CBSE handle the situation?

The CBSE stated that, despite the cyberattacks, its security infrastructure remained effective. The portal successfully handled over 8,000 users, and by 3:00 PM, applications from more than 16,000 students had been successfully processed. This demonstrates that robust cybersecurity measures can significantly mitigate the impact of large-scale attacks.