Abstract:

This strategic review addresses the critical integrity crisis in the Indian public examination system, evidenced by approximately 64–70 paper leak incidents reported across 19 states between 2019 and 2024, impacting millions of job aspirants. The study audits a proposed multi-layered IoT physical security system designed to safeguard confidential examination materials within a "Smart Strong Room." The analysis identifies a critical vulnerability gap: the reliance on prototyping-grade Commercial Off-the-Shelf (COTS) hardware (such as Arduino microcontrollers and low-cost biometric sensors) is insufficient for high-security applications, exposing the system to cyber-physical attacks, including RF jamming, side-channel analysis, and voltage glitching. Crucially, the paper establishes the mandatory requirement for the system's design and commercialization to comply with the stringent legal liability framework imposed by the Public Examinations (Prevention of Unfair Means) Act, 2024, which mandates fines up to ₹1 crore for service provider negligence. The study mandates a strategic pivot towards high-assurance engineering, recommending industrial-grade Programmable Logic Controllers (PLCs), EAL-certified biometric authentication, robust resilience features, and the expansion of the system scope to include end-to-end logistics tracking and tamper detection protocols necessary for verifiable accountability and national scalability.

This strategic review addresses the critical integrity crisis in the Indian public examination system, evidenced by approximately 64–70 paper leak incidents reported across 19 states between 2019 and 2024, impacting millions of job aspirants. The study audits a proposed multi-layered IoT physical security system designed to safeguard confidential examination materials within a "Smart Strong Room." The analysis identifies a critical vulnerability gap: the reliance on prototyping-grade Commercial Off-the-Shelf (COTS) hardware (such as Arduino microcontrollers and low-cost biometric sensors) is insufficient for high-security applications, exposing the system to cyber-physical attacks, including RF jamming, side-channel analysis, and voltage glitching. Crucially, the paper establishes the mandatory requirement for the system's design and commercialization to comply with the stringent legal liability framework imposed by the Public Examinations (Prevention of Unfair Means) Act, 2024, which mandates fines up to ₹1 crore for service provider negligence. The study mandates a strategic pivot towards high-assurance engineering, recommending industrial-grade Programmable Logic Controllers (PLCs), EAL-certified biometric authentication, robust resilience features, and the expansion of the system scope to include end-to-end logistics tracking and tamper detection protocols necessary for verifiable accountability and national scalability.