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The first-ever online bar exam got off to a rocky start when some people taking Michigan's test were unable to log into a portion of the test in an apparent cyberattack.

Nici Sandberg, a spokeswoman for ExamSoft, the site technology vendor, told Bloomberg Law it was the victim of a "sophisticated attack specifically aimed at the login process for the ExamSoft Portal."

Panicked and frustrated test takers took to Twitter during the testing time Tuesday to say they couldn't log into the second of five test modules.

"The online #MichiganBarExam is currently malfunctioning," tweeted recent University of Michigan law graduate Kerry Martin. "The website where they post passwords for each of the modules has crashed. Only finished 1 module. I'm taking the test near 3 other people having the exact same problem. IT hotline won't answer."

John Nevin, a spokesman for the Michigan Supreme Court, said the state and vendor came up with quick email and online workarounds.

"The vendor support line and Board of Law Examiners office were giving out the password, and around 200 people were testing within 10 minutes," he said. "ExamSoft pushed out an email with the password, and everyone was able to get in to the second module and start testing shortly thereafter."

Test takers were notified via email that the testing day would be extended to compensate for the tech outage.

ExamSoft also agreed to email passwords to test takers for the remaining modules, Nevin added. Within the hour, ExamSoft also posted a universal password on its website to allow candidates to access the second test module.

In a statement Tuesday, ExamSoft said individual delays lasted up to 30 minutes, but it rattled some candidates.

"Really frustrating," a test taker wrote on Twitter. "Especially after we expressed concerns about whether examsoft could handle the #mibarexam and were repeatedly told there was nothing to worry about. Phones are busy. Still nothing."

Many jurisdictions, Florida among them, have decided to give the bar exam online due to COVID-19, and many are watching to see how early adopters fare. The Florida Board of Bar Examiners set its test for Aug, 19 using Missouri-based ILG Technologies as its test vendor.

Michele A. Gavagni, the Florida board's executive director, said by email that she couldn't comment on exam security measures but added, "We are working with our vendor to address the security of the exam portal."

In case of any exam-day disruptions, Gavagni said, "We continue to evaluate and refine our procedures for outreach to the examinees on exam day. Examinees will receive those instructions in advance of the examination."

Michigan, Indiana and Nevada were to be the online test pioneers Tuesday, but Indiana and Nevada both postponed their online exams July 24 after their software vendor, ILG Technologies, ran an update that caused glitches in the exam. That left Michigan as the only jurisdiction with an exam this week.

Many other states plan to give an abbreviated online bar exam in October, including New York, California, Pennsylvania, Georgia, Illinois and Ohio.

Michigan's software vendor has years of experience administering the bar exam — albeit with in-person tests. It's also no stranger to problems.

Many people in numerous states ran into problems uploading their answers in 2014 in what the internet dubbed "Barmageddon." The company eventually agreed to pay $2.1 million to bar takers under a class action settlement and said it would improve its technology.

Michigan in May announced it would forgo its traditional two-day in-person bar exam in favor of a one-day online version —making it the second jurisdiction in the country to commit to a remote exam.

The tests consists of five modules of Michigan essay questions. It does not include the Multistate Bar Exam, the multiple-choice question portion of the exam.

Nevin said 733 people are taking the Michigan exam Tuesday.