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SUMMARY AND

COMPARISON DATA

VIDEO/AUTO OR REMOTE LIVE ID

VERIFICATION COMPANIES

VS.

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Proctoring and BioProof-ID perform different functions within the distance learning environment. They

are complementary. Most schools use proctoring services to enforce honesty for high stakes tests.

BioProof-ID fights loan fraud and academic dishonesty during every student login, not just tests.

We will compare BioProof-ID technology to proctoring solutions that offer live or auto authentication to

clear up confusion on when to use these technologies and for what purpose.

The reason for comparison is the new

requirements on student authentication from

the Office of Inspector General in 2014. These

mandate that students now be continuously

identified throughout the course from

beginning to end. These rules are an anti-fraud

measure that also fights academic dishonesty.

To begin the comparison, both proctoring and

BioProof-ID identify students. Proctoring

companies confirm the identity of students by

asking to see a government issued photo ID through a webcam.

Similarly, BioProof-ID uses live authentication agents to confirm government ID. BUT then a major

difference in features is these agents watch as the student validates their identity as part of the

enrollment process their biometric password with BioSig-ID. Thereafter for any gradable event the

students can be challenged to verify their identity with BioSig-ID. BioSig-ID is the process where

students draw a four-character password with their finger or mouse, creating a unique gesture

biometric that can’t be reproduced by others.

Proctors may be human or use virtual technology which is “proctorless.” They identify students only at a

specific point in time.

BioProof-ID and its companion service BioSig-ID continuously identifies students at every login to the

LMS – or whenever specified. It needs no human intervention. It verifies that the other 20 assignments

of the course that aren’t proctored are done by the registered student.

The purpose of proctoring and BioProof-ID biometric identification is to correctly identify students. But

each secures different situations. Proctoring protects high stakes tests and reduces cheating. BioSig-ID

constantly identifies students to catch cheaters throughout the course. Students may not be willing to

cheat on higher stakes exams because they are proctored but maybe more inclined to have others do

their work for all other gradable assignments This is especially true when the GPA value exceeds the

value for an exam. BioSig-ID and its’ forensic reporting has also caught financial aid fraud.

Both are needed in distance learning. They reinforce each other. The new identity rules are intended to

produce certainty about who is attending class every time, heighten academic integrity, and combat

increasing FSA grant and loan fraud. OIG hopes by forcing schools to authenticate students every time

they enter the LMS or before gradable assignments, schools will be able to better catch cheaters by

analyzing patterns. These patterns might include IP addresses, ISP location, password resets, time and

Students should be continuously

identified throughout the course

Office of Inspector General (OIG)

Final Audit Report on Distance Learning 2014

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date of log ins, sharing of passwords, devices used to access the course and more. OIG is demanding

that schools detect fraud before they disperse loan monies, potentially saving schools thousands or

even millions of dollars thereby reducing the $billions of fraud in the USA.

The new identity authentication goals serve regulatory as well as academic ends. Where proctoring

secured a single test, the new world of identity will secure every connection point within your learning

environment and conclusively identify every user, creating unprecedented security in online learning.

Common Characteristics of Proctoring

The leading companies tend to share the following

characteristics: are scheduled or on-demand, utilize

hardware webcam/microphone, provide live observation,

are fully or partially integrated in LMS, require some

software downloads and offer some form of video only or

live identity proofing (authentication), usually a check of

government issued ID combined with the collection of other

biometrics or security questions.

Of note is the reliance on facial recognition software and secondarily, keystroke analysis.

Verificient adds a further biometric, knuckle scanning, and Voice Proctor uses voice recognition.

Several companies rely on security questions as a way to verify identity. However, these are only

50% reliable at best and are being phased out (Read the latest on IRS hacking and the 50%

failure of security questions) and the latest from the IRS hacking results. ( IRS question

authentication hacked)

Keystroke analysis in independent tests was found to be 27X less accurate than BioSig-ID and

9X less able to identify current users. This lack of accuracy questions whether this technology

can distinguish current users from imposters. The lack of recognizing current users may also

create a poor user experience and thus lack of use.

Benefits of online proctoring using live proctors:

Avoids the hassle, expense and burden of asking students to attend a physical facility

Can catch cheaters if live remote proctors are used (proctorless/ video-only will likely not catch

cheaters)

Accreditation boards like proctoring but increasingly are asking for more processes that

determine the registered student is the same who is taking the entire course and doing the work

Replicates offline test experience and validates online learning

Deterrent effect

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Downside of proctorless or video proctoring:

Expensive

Requires a web cam; may present problems with mobile access

Some require a download of software

Proctorless or video recording technology creates:

o Poor user experience from being intrusive and multi-step,

o Not a strong cheating deterrent due to degree of proximity. (It is distant so invites

cheating)

o Does not know who else is in the room who may be assisting

o Relies on faculty to review the video’s (who has time for this?)

The companies who use keystroke do not do a comparative analysis against a stored initial

template, or later versions of a student’s keystroke, comparing new signatures to an enrollment

template, thus making any comparison meaningless (why do this at all?)

The biometrics used are not third party tested and do not reveal what metrics are required for a

pass or fail to identify a person

Reliance on biometric facial recognition or other physical biometrics (any body part imprint or

image collected) poses a privacy threat to students:

o Data could be hacked and physical biometrics once stolen cannot be “replaced”

o Privacy laws not followed increase what could be a huge $ liability to the institution

Proctoring companies are not security companies and release little information about how

biometric data is stored, protected and disposed of

Many companies do not ask advance permission to collect subjects’ approval to use/collect

biometrics nor provide a purpose-and-use notification (this makes them subject to privacy law

fines)

Generally, they do not have any patents and this can increase risks to institutions for continued

use

May review only a sampling of tested students which will not catch all the cheaters

Slight deviations in observed behavior or movements can cause incident reports (false positives)

Does not establish attendance for class, only key events

Use of auto authentication is meaningless as anybody could represent themselves as another

person and there is no checking /comparison of credentials

BioProof-ID Comparison

Uses gesture biometrics which causes no liability as it can be revoked and replaced and is only a

behavior, not an unchanging physical attribute.

High accuracy rating by respected third party tester Tolly Group

Students like it! 98% find enrollment easy and 45% say it’s “entertaining”

Continuous authentication from course beginning to end, satisfying new OIG identity rules

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Lower cost

Software requires no human input; fully automated with no burden on faculty or admin

Tracks attendance and creates reports for compliance,

saving faculty hours of time

Generates Suspicious Activity Reports that detect

potential academic dishonesty

Students can login from anywhere including their phones

BVirtual on demand schedule means students can be

connected anytime usually within 5 minutes

BVirtual is the leader for on demand and we have proven

that 75% of students can call right now and complete the

entire process in 10 minutes or less!

Works with any LMS and allows access on any device, anywhere – even different countries

Comparison of Top Proctoring Companies Who Offer ID Verification

Most proctoring companies use some form of physical biometric

to identify students prior to testing. This model poses a risk to

institutions from potential privacy lawsuits. These are class

action or individual lawsuits that are suing large companies like

Facebook and Shutterfly or individual companies. If students

were to lose precious physical biometric information, it can

never be recovered and they will be at risk of biometric identity

theft for the rest of their lives.

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PROCTORU (UCARD)

Offers a multi-step proctoring process. Live proctor confirms students photo ID on webcam, then snaps

a picture for a student profile. Security questions are asked (culled from a public information database).

Ucard combines these steps with keystroke analysis (subjects have to type 144 characters to create a

pattern) to create a user profile. Ucard is an add-on step to their traditional live remote proctoring

available at an extra cost.

As compared to BioProof-ID:

Cost is significantly higher than BioProof-ID:

approx. $10 Vs $7 for BioProof-ID

Use of security questions is only 50% accurate

at best. See latest IRS hack results here: IRS

question authentication hacked

Use of facial capture increases privacy law

liability and hacking liability

Security, storage and disposal of student image are unknown

Keystroke is 27X less accurate than BioSig-ID and keystroke did not reach NIST guidelines

(BioSig-ID was 3x better than NIST)

Biometric “signature” is not compared consistently or at all to any template

Face picture comparison is done manually reducing reliability

No pass/fail metrics listed

Requires webcam and microphone

No historical reports to catch cheaters and capture patterns required by Dept. of Ed

No attendance taking to comply with new Dept. of Ed regulations

Does not scale well: one proctor can only monitor 3-6 students at a time

EXAMITY

Has 2 levels of authentication and 3 levels of proctoring. It provides a self-guided authentication for test

takers, live authentication aided by biometrics, recorded sessions, and random sample tests. Students

are required to snap pictures of their ID and face, answer challenge questions and enter keystrokes.

Pricing as follows:

LEVEL AA: AUTO-AUTHENTICATION - $5 AD HOC OR $15/STUDENT FOR THE YEAR (2K

STUDENTS MINIMUM/YEAR)

LEVEL 0 – LIVE AUTHENTICATION: $7.50

LEVEL 1 RANDOM LIVE PROCTORING -$10.00

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LEVEL 2 LIVE PROCTORING-$12.50

LEVEL 3-LIVE RECORDED PROCTORED $15.00

As compared to BioProof-ID:

Cost is higher than BioProof-ID $7.50 vs $6 (live authentication only)

Auto-authentication is less accurate - really meaningless - could be anybody’s picture, or

keystroke since it is not compared to anything

Add-ons are expensive

o $7.00 per extra hour

o $5.00 for less than 24 hours advance schedule

o $5.00 for time change or cancellations

Use of security questions only 50% accurate at best

Use of facial capture increases privacy law liability and hacking liability

Keystroke is 27X less accurate than BioSig-ID and keystroke did not reach NIST guidelines

(BioSig-ID was 3x better than NIST)

They record the session with live authentication = increases the liability risks

Keystroke analytics is not compared consistently or at all to any template

Subjects are required to complete a profile in advance of use

The questions they use may come from the student themselves at initial set up and are less

effective than public data based questions

Auto authentication asks subject to take a picture of themselves; this could be anyone

No pass/fail metrics for any comparisons on biometrics, face scans

No independent third party testing so false positives/negatives could obviate the use of

keystroke and let anybody in

Students can re-edit their profile anytime without any controls so it could be anyone

No historical reports to catch cheaters and capture patterns required by Dept. of Ed

No attendance taking to comply with new Dept. of Ed regulations

RESPONDUS

Lockdown Browser® is a custom browser that locks down the testing environment within the LMS.

When students use Lockdown Browser they are unable to print, copy, go to another URL, or access

other applications. When an assessment is started, students are locked into it until they submit it for

grading. Big problem is anyone could be in the room helping the student on a different computer. If any

technical difficulties arise prior to completion of the exam the computer is useless until the exam is

submitted incomplete

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CAMPUS-WIDE PRICING FOR LOCKDOWN BROWSER

Under 2,000 students $2395

2,001 to 10,000 students $2695-$3995

10,001 to 30,000 students $4445-$5295

30,000 to 40,000 students $5695-$5995

Over 40,000 students Quote

RESPONDUS MONITOR

A companion product that has an ID verification component for Lockdown Browser. Students use their

own computer and webcam to record assessment sessions.

PRICING FOR RESPONDUS MONITOR

1,000 seats (and all first-year licenses) $3,950 ($3.95/seat if use 1,000, less if >1,000)

Each additional 1,000 seats – add $1,950 ($1.95/seat)

As compared to BioProof-ID:

• Respondus Monitor requires a campus-wide license of Lockdown Browser (sold separately).

• Faculty or staff must review the video for possible misconduct

• If student pays the cost is $10.00/course

• No historical reports to catch cheaters and capture patterns required by Dept. of Ed

• No attendance taking to comply with new Dept. of Ed regulations

• A "seat" is one student per course where Respondus Monitor is used. If a course has four exams that

use Respondus Monitor, only one seat is counted per student. If a student uses Respondus Monitor in

two courses, it is counted as two seats = expensive.

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• If student takes 3 courses in a year school pays $3.95+$1.95+$1.95 = $7.85. This price is approximately

the same as BioSig-ID technology yet includes no reports, requires faculty, delays in getting videos to

faculty, no attendance taking, etc.

• They record the session = increases the liability risks

VERIFICIENT TECHNOLOGIES

Its ProctorTrack is a proctor less solution that is fully automated, with no human supervision.

As compared to BioProof-ID:

• Identity of test takers is accomplished when students download an app, then submit to video knuckle,

facial and ID scans. No mention that they create an enrollment template to compare to.

• Automated software detects any cheating behaviors (leaving seat, replaced person, looking away,

etc.) and delivers the suspicious results in an after-test report.

• Efficacy is unproven and the use of facial and knuckle capture increases privacy law liability and

hacking liability.

• Pricing was also much higher with published pricing at $29.00 per class plus $3.00 annual on boarding

fee.

• The user experience is expected to be poor if the student has to be subjected to the face, knuckle

scans each time.

• No published results of false positives/negatives and if any comparisons were made over subsequent

biometrics challenges. = no controls

*Disclaimer: These summaries including prices were obtained from the web sites of the companies in late January 2016 or from

direct communication from the company. The interpretations, including the “cons” are from senior management at BSI and are

their opinions based on the data and information available at the time.

For more information on BioProof-ID and BioSig-ID biometric password technology, visit biosig-id.com

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