‘Far from the truth’: IIT Roorkee says: ‘JEE-Advanced security breach data is misleading, factually incorrect’ | Today’s news
The Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Roorkee on Friday dismissed allegations of data breach and privacy breach affecting thousands of JEE (Advanced) aspirants, calling the claims misleading and factually inaccurate. The institute clarified that the temporary misconfiguration of the cloud storage did not result in the compromise or large-scale extraction of any sensitive data.
IIT Roorkee, which organized the JEE (Advanced) 2026, said the information being circulated on social media did not accurately describe the incident and claimed that efforts were being made to spread misinformation.
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He clarified: “The affected storage was read-only, meaning no data could be modified or deleted. Analysis of the cloud access logs confirmed that no bulk download occurred (read-only access was limited to less than 0.05% of the data). No sensitive information was compromised or bulk extracted. This incident had no impact on exam results, including marks, rankings and candidate categories.”
IIT Roorkee said that the information spread on social media is misleading and does not accurately reflect the situation. The institute said that there are attempts to spread misinformation that is far from the truth. It added that certain technical arrangements have been expedited on June 2, 2026 to help the candidates who were facing difficulties in accessing the admit card details and to ensure the smooth functioning of the registration process.
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“These interventions resulted in a minimal temporary misconfiguration of a cloud storage component. The ethical hacker, Mr. Rylen Anil, identified this misconfiguration and reported that he had access to the affected database. The problem was immediately corrected and access to the data was restricted,” he added.
This year, Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee is the organizing institute for JEE Advanced 2026, the entrance test for admission to IITs. As the organizing institute, IIT Roorkee oversees the examination process, announces the results and works with the Joint Admissions Board to manage admissions.
As per the existing eligibility criteria, candidates who wish to secure admission to IITs through JEE Advanced must either secure a minimum of 75 per cent marks in the Class 12 examinations or rank among the top 20 per cent passers in their respective education boards.
The Common Entrance Examination (Advanced), the gateway to undergraduate admissions to IITs and other premier engineering institutions, saw 56,880 candidates qualify in 2026. The results announced on June 1 included 46,773 male candidates and 10,107 female candidates.
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A total of 1,79,694 candidates appeared for both papers of JEE (Advanced) 2026, held on May 17, out of 1,87,389 registered candidates. Among the 3,052 registered PWD (PWD) candidates, 2,864 appeared in both papers and 887 qualified.
Shubham Kumar from IIT Delhi zone secured the top rank with 330 out of 360 marks. Among the female candidates, Arohi Deshpande emerged as the highest placed, securing an All India rank of 77 with a score of 280 marks.
The exam also saw the participation of one candidate of the third gender who did not qualify.
(With input from agencies)
