New Delhi, Dec. 1: The IIMs have blamed a mystery virus for spoiling their first computerised entrance test but computer network experts have rubbished the claim, saying unforeseen glitches in an inadequately tested software were likelier culprits.

“A virus appears an excuse for inadequate testing of the computerised system prior to the examination,” J.P. Mishra, computer scientist at the Birla Institute of Technology, Pilani, told The Telegraph.

Mishra was part of a two-member team that successfully started one of India’s first computerised public entrance examinations — for BITS Pilani five years ago.

At a media briefing in Ahmedabad on Monday, the IIMs blamed malware — software that attacks networks — for preventing thousands of candidates from successfully taking the Common Admission Test (CAT).

The statement by India’s premier B-schools seconded Prometric — the CAT testing service provider — which had earlier blamed an unknown virus for preventing the computerised tests from running smoothly.

The IIM statement came on a day the human resource development ministry asked the institutes for a report on the reasons behind the glitches that affected candidates taking the test.

But network experts and IIM insiders who have over the years helped conduct numerous CAT examinations are asking whether organisers this year exercised adequate rigour.

“A virus, if any, can be identified and isolated within a day,” said Dheeraj Sanghi, a computer network security specialist and director of the LN Mittal Institute of Information Technology in Jaipur.

“Even if a virus were to be blamed for the problems on the first day, it is hard to understand how a virus can be blamed for recurring problems on subsequent days,” Sanghi said.

Mishra, who helped start BIT-SAT — the computerised entrance test at BITS Pilani — concurred that “any malware is very easy to fix”.

BIT-SAT, which has run for the past five years without any significant problems, has tested around 3 lakh students to date.

The experts said that as outsiders, they could not pinpoint the exact causes of the glitches but they were confident that a virus was highly unlikely.

Other reasons for the glitches include unforeseen shortcomings in the software used by Prometric, and inadequate capacity of the servers at the test centres, the experts said.

“But even the dumbest of people would verify the capacity of servers before using them. It would be surprising if the organisers did not even check the capacity of the servers to be used,” Mishra said.