Master's Thesis
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MASTER'S THESIS How to Improve Security in Distance Studies An analysis of online examination at a Swedish university Pontus Palmenäs 2014 Master of Arts (60 credits) Master of Science in Information Security Luleå University of Technology Department of Computer Science, Electrical and Space Engineering Abstract Distance studies or distance learning has greatly grown in popularity over the past years, partly due to the growing interest in Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs). As distance studies tend to have online exams, with the benefit of lower cost for the universities and more flexibility for students, there is a need for attention for online exam security. Online exam security is one part process and part technical solutions, e.g. PC lockdown or spyware programs. This study has shown that both the process and the spyware at an undisclosed Swedish university (University X) has security vulnerabilities and may result in cheating remaining undetected. The proposed prototype in this study handles these security vulnerabilities but needs further development to function as a production ready program. There is also a need for more research on a common path for online exam security as the current studies are proposing many different ways. Finally, spyware programs for legitimate purposes need to find the balance between privacy and cheating prevention, to provide trust and confidence to students interested in distance learning. Keywords: online exam, distance studies, spyware, cheating control, secure exam management. Foreword This magister thesis is written as completion to the first year of the master program Information Security at Luleå Tekniska Universitet (LTU). It was written mainly during the time between March and May 2014. The topic is selected from my personal interest in technical information security, mainly attacks and defenses. My hope is that this study leads to increased awareness of security in online exams at the university that was targeted with this study, and that it is only used for legitimate purposes. Pontus Palmenäs Stockholm, June 2014 2 Table of Contents 1 Introduction ..................................................................................................................................... 5 1.1 Intended Audience .................................................................................................................. 5 1.2 Research Questions ................................................................................................................. 5 1.3 Motivation ............................................................................................................................... 5 1.4 Related Work ........................................................................................................................... 6 1.5 Delimitation ............................................................................................................................. 6 1.6 Glossary ................................................................................................................................... 6 2 Method ............................................................................................................................................ 8 2.1 Analysis and development platforms ...................................................................................... 8 2.1.1 Desktop PC....................................................................................................................... 8 2.1.2 Laptop .............................................................................................................................. 8 2.1.3 Software .......................................................................................................................... 8 2.2 Finding Current Online Exam Process Vulnerabilities ............................................................. 9 2.2.1 Testing mismanagement ................................................................................................. 9 2.2.2 Impersonation ................................................................................................................. 9 2.2.3 PC misuse ......................................................................................................................... 9 2.2.4 Forbidden stuff ................................................................................................................ 9 2.2.5 Accomplice ...................................................................................................................... 9 2.2.6 Test leakage ..................................................................................................................... 9 2.2.7 “Electronic warfare” ...................................................................................................... 10 2.3 Finding Current Spyware Vulnerabilities ............................................................................... 10 2.3.1 Virtual machine ............................................................................................................. 10 2.3.2 PE Explorer..................................................................................................................... 10 2.3.3 HxD hex editor ............................................................................................................... 11 2.3.4 010 Editor ...................................................................................................................... 11 2.3.5 OllyDbg .......................................................................................................................... 11 2.3.6 API Monitor ................................................................................................................... 12 3 Results ........................................................................................................................................... 13 3.1 Vulnerabilities of the current examination process .............................................................. 13 3.1.1 Testing mismanagement ............................................................................................... 13 3.1.2 Impersonator ................................................................................................................. 13 3.1.3 PC Misuse ...................................................................................................................... 13 3 3.1.4 Forbidden stuff .............................................................................................................. 14 3.1.5 Accomplice .................................................................................................................... 14 3.1.6 Electronic warfare ......................................................................................................... 14 3.2 Improving the online examination process ........................................................................... 14 3.3 Finding Current Spyware Vulnerabilities ............................................................................... 15 3.3.1 Virtual machines ............................................................................................................ 15 3.3.2 PE Explorer..................................................................................................................... 15 3.3.3 HxD hex editor ............................................................................................................... 15 3.3.4 010 Editor ...................................................................................................................... 16 3.3.5 OllyDbg .......................................................................................................................... 16 3.3.6 API Monitor ................................................................................................................... 18 3.4 Improving the spyware program ........................................................................................... 20 3.4.1 Program ......................................................................................................................... 22 3.4.2 SpyEngine ...................................................................................................................... 22 3.4.3 VMDetector ................................................................................................................... 23 3.4.4 UserActivityLogger ........................................................................................................ 23 3.4.5 PollingLogger ................................................................................................................. 24 3.4.6 ProcessLogger ................................................................................................................ 24 3.4.7 ScreenLogger ................................................................................................................. 24 3.4.8 EncryptedFileWriter ...................................................................................................... 25 3.4.9 unpacker.py ................................................................................................................... 26 3.5 Summary................................................................................................................................ 27 4 Analysis .........................................................................................................................................