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A 19-year-old Indian cybersecurity researcher has added another milestone to his career after being recognised by the US Department of Justice for responsibly reporting a critical security vulnerability<\/p>\n
According to media reports, Nisarga Adhikary said he discovered a critical vulnerability in one of the US Department of Justice\u2019s law-enforcement systems while researching its website. He reportedly submitted a vulnerability report to the department, which he said validated the finding and patched the issue within a week<\/p>\n
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Adhikary shared a screenshot of the department\u2019s cybersecurity acknowledgements page on X. The page credits researchers who have responsibly disclosed valid vulnerabilities to the department<\/p>\n
He said he did not receive any payment for reporting the flaw<\/p>\n
Vulnerability also reported to US military<\/h3>\n
The DoJ discovery was not Adhikary\u2019s first reported vulnerability involving US government systems<\/p>\n
He said he had also identified a vulnerability in a US Department of Defense or military system and reported it to the relevant authorities<\/p>\n
\u201cI found a vulnerability in the US Department of Defense\/US military system. I reported it and after validation, they found it was valid. Remediation is still under way though,\u201d he said<\/p>\n
Adhikary has also received a \u201cThanks\u201d acknowledgement from the US Department of Defense through HackerOne, a platform used by organisations to receive vulnerability reports from security researchers<\/p>\n
He has not disclosed technical details of the vulnerabilities or identified the affected systems<\/p>\n
From CBSE flaws to IIT Kanpur<\/h3>\n
Adhikary first attracted attention in India in 2026 after reporting security vulnerabilities in the Central Board of Secondary Education\u2019s Online Submission of Marks (OSM) portal<\/p>\n
He said he reported the issues to CERT-In in February before publishing details of his findings in May. His findings raised concerns about the security of examination data on the platform<\/p>\n
Following the CBSE episode, Adhikary joined IIT Kanpur\u2019s C3iHub as an OSINT and Threat Intelligence Engineer<\/p>\n
His career in cybersecurity began several years earlier. According to his LinkedIn profile, his first internship was with the New Delhi Space Society in 2023, where he worked as a web developer. He later founded and led a Hack Club before working with technology companies including Skann, Cypherock and Wavelength<\/p>\n
\u2018Rank is not competence\u2019<\/h3>\n
Adhikary\u2019s growing cybersecurity career has also shaped his criticism of India\u2019s education system<\/p>\n
In a recent blog post, he criticised what he described as the country\u2019s \u201cexamination fetish\u201d, arguing that an excessive focus on ranks, marks and credentials can overlook practical technical skills<\/p>\n
\u201cIndia keeps rewarding mugging up PCM and then wonders where the hackers went. JEE is not computer science. GATE is not cybersecurity. rank is not competence. Our examination fetish is killing technical talent,\u201d he wrote<\/p>\n
Adhikary clarified that his criticism is not directed at examinations themselves. He acknowledged that exams such as the Joint Entrance Examination can test mathematical ability, discipline and performance under pressure, while also providing a way to allocate a limited number of seats at institutions such as the IITs<\/p>\n
His argument is that examination performance alone cannot establish whether someone can build, understand or secure a computer system<\/p>\n
A growing cybersecurity career<\/h3>\n
Adhikary\u2019s recent recognition by the US Justice Department comes after a series of vulnerability disclosures involving Indian and US government systems<\/p>\n
At 19, his journey has taken him from identifying security issues in India\u2019s examination infrastructure to working in OSINT and threat intelligence at IIT Kanpur and reporting vulnerabilities to US government agencies<\/p>\n
With inputs from Agencies<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n
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