Continue reading »]]> All credit goes to Pagal Patrakar from The Faking News

New Delhi. “Have you ever farted loudly in public?” was the question that popped up on his computer screen when Ankit Agarwal was taking CAT 2009 online at the Delhi Business School center here. A shocked and upset Ankit looked around to find equally dumbfounded faces of fellow test takers at the center. A few minutes passed when all of them realized that CAT servers had been hacked.

“I found all the students straining their eyes and looking around with puzzling looks at each other, and I sensed that something was wrong. But I still answered the fart question by choosing the option (b), which was in affirmative, assuming IIMs wanted to test us on some abstruse parameter as MBAs are often accused of creating fart. And to my horror, the next thing on screen was a middle finger, telling me I was a loser. I immediately knew that the servers were hacked.” Ankit recounted his harrowing experience.

Students were shocked to see such images on their computer screen as they took CAT 2009 online

Several centers around the country reported the same problem with the students asked absolutely ridiculous and offensive questions such as “have you ever slept with a potato in your underwear?” and “will you mop up the poop of pet dog of your boss to get promotion?”, all of them ending with a middle finger on the screen when students cared to choose an available option. It was the first day of online CAT (Common Admission Test) for admission to the six (as of today) IIMs and many other well known and lesser known MBA institutes.

“IIMs are known to change the pattern of CAT quite often, therefore many students thought that maybe these questions had some hidden meanings. But we felt like losers once that middle finger appeared on the screen. I talked to many of my friends and all of them feel the same. The questions appeared to have been taken straight out of a show of Sach Ka Saamna.” Chetan Pandit, another CAT test taker shared his experience.

IIMs have called for an emergency meeting this evening to discuss the problem and to nail down the hacker, but the event has already caused huge embarrassment to them. Many students, who otherwise had bunked the online CAT to see movies, were seen demonstrating in front of the centers asking IIMs to go back to paper-and-pen tests. Samajwadi Party activists too joined the protests and broke computers as a symbol of protest.

This unfortunate incident has also caused many test conducting agencies and internet security agencies to pitch for their services to IIMs and ask them to outsource CAT to them. These agencies have also approached Ministry of Human Resource Development with what they termed as ‘lucrative’ proposals.

Meanwhile the students are fuming over the possibility that they will have to take the test again, which is often touted as their ticket to a better life. Most of the students believe, and more importantly want their parents to believe, that they were performing exceptionally well at the test before the hackers struck and denied them an opportunity to change their lives.

Continue reading »]]> CRPCC Team

30 Nov 2009

The Common Admission Test (CAT) examination, administrated for admission to seven prestigious Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) and 150 more management institute has been affected by virus attack, as per the contractor and IIMB director, which continued for the third day today.

This year for the first time, CAT is being conducted online throughout India at 104 centers for about 2,41,000 aspirants for about 2500 seats at seven IIMs. The exam was spread over 10 day from 28 November to 07 December 2009. The trouble started at the start of exam on day 1 and continued for the third day today.

First it was stated as server crash, but later the blame was put on a virus. But the details of virus are not disclosed. This give rise to speculation that the virus may be only an excuse.

The so-called virus has affected only at 24 centers distressing about 15% of candidates. Neither IIM directors nor CAT committee nor the contractor Prometric, an US based company and it’s Indian associate NIIT are disclosing any further details.

“This shows the total unprofessional approach by all concerned, where there is either no or not adequate planning, execution, dry run, mock test, stress testing, back-up plan existed”, said Rakesh Goyal, Director General of CRPCC and MD of Sysman Computers Private Limited, a leading IT Security firm.

The launch of the online CAT meant delivery of exams at more than 360 testing laboratories in 104 centres. “It is an ambitious project, but well within the means and experience of Prometric,” Prometric said.

The laboratories closed on Sunday include 11 in Bangalore, eight in Bhopal, six each in Lucknow and Mumbai, five in Delhi, four in Ghaziabad, two each in Varanasi and Hyderabad and one each in Bhubaneswar, Chandigarh, Nagpur, Kolkata and Coimbatore.

Agitated students and their parents are concerned about their future and the mental agony bourn by them.