U of R anti-cheat software will be up and running again by Thursday afternoon
The anti-cheat software used by the University of Regina for students taking online exams is expected to be up and running again by Thursday afternoon.
Proctortrack is a computer program that monitors students taking online exams. U of R students are mostly learning remotely this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Verificient Technologies, the company that created Proctortrack, shut down its services last week after a security breach was detected.
"Verificient Technologies, subsequent to a security review, has confirmed that no user data was exposed in last week's security breach and that Proctortrack services will resume on Thursday (Oct. 22)," said an email sent to U of R students and staff Tuesday afternoon.
"The provider has further assured its clients that the vulnerability that led to the breach — which prompted the temporary shutdown of services — has been fully addressed and that its security measures have been updated"
Verificient issued a release about a security breach on Oct. 13. Rahul Siddharth, the company's chief operating officer, later told CBC News that a "prankster" had somehow gained access to a QA-server — used for automated testing of software — located in Europe, sent an email and "played around with some files."
Three people in the United States received offensive emails from the person, who then posted a screenshot of the email on Twitter with hashtags of a company client, Verificient said in a news release Wednesday.
This prompted the shut down of Proctortrack services for seven to 10 days for a security review and enhancements to the product's code.
The U of R notified its students two days after the breach was detected. Business students at Western University in London, Ont., were also impacted by the shut down.
An independent global cybersecurity company, Network Intelligence, conducted an audit of Proctortrack's systems. It determined there was no personal information accessed, data altered, credit card numbers stolen or login information compromised, Verificient said in its release Wednesday.
"Fortunately, the audit confirmed that our existing security infrastructure limited the extent of the intrusion. As determined by the audit, the unauthorized individual was quickly isolated and removed from the company's server," CEO Rajnish Kumar said in the release.
"I sincerely apologize for the understandable concern that this incident has caused. We are committed to taking further steps to ensure the security of the private data with which we are entrusted while limiting any future disruptions in service to our educational partners and student communities."
The incident affirmed many students' fears about using the software, but the university said the program was necessary because otherwise cheating could delegetimize the entire institution.
In the email sent Tuesday, the school re-emphasized that stance, saying that certain exams need to be monitored in order to preserve "academic integrity and the value of the degrees our students are earning at the University of Regina."
Proctortrack services should be fully operational for U of R students by 4 p.m. CST Thursday, the university said.
