On October 14, 2024, Lucy Simko, assistant professor of computer science, presented new research at the ACM Computer and Communications Security Conference (CCS) in Salt Lake City, Utah, titled “Modern problems require modern solutions: Community-Developed Techniques for Online Exam Proctoring Evasion.” CCS is the flagship annual conference of the Special Interest Group on Security, Audit, and Control (SIGSAC) of the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM).
Developed alongside colleagues at George Washington University, Simko’s research explores how academic dishonesty has evolved with the adoption of remote, online proctoring technology in the wake of COVID-19. Through a qualitative analysis of social media videos and comments posted to YouTube and TikTok, Simko and her colleagues examined both the methods and motivations behind the evasion of online proctoring. Their results provide an important look into the development of a “security mindset,” which in this context manifests as a desire to subvert proctoring measures that act as invasive surveillance technology. Simko and her colleagues emphasize the broader implications of this perspective for the security and privacy community and advocate for fairness and equity in future proctoring design and pedagogical practices.