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Exam proctoring and assessment integrity

From invigilated halls to online closed-book exams — WISEflow unifies exam security and proctoring in one place. Four layers, from device lockdown to live proctoring, all managed in WISEflow and hosted in the EU.
Discover WISEFLOW's proctoring solution

SECURITY IS A DIAL, NOT A SWITCH

Generative AI didn't break assessment. It exposed how much we'd quietly outsourced to the take-home essay. Where authorship and identity genuinely matter, adding controlled conditions back in is the right instinct; the execution is what's hard. This isn't about abandoning take-home and open-book work; those remain valuable and fully supported in WISEflow. This page is about the exams that now need supervision to protect academic integrity.

Even then, "a proctored exam" isn't one thing. An invigilated hall, a take-home paper with light ID checks, and a high-stakes remote licensing exam are different problems. Treat them the same, and institutions over-police low-risk exams while under-protecting high-stakes ones. The real question isn't "open or closed?" but how much assurance an assessment needs, and at what cost to candidate experience.

PROPORTIONATE. SCALABLE. COMPLIANT.

A serious approach to exam security has three properties. Get them right and security stops being a series of emergencies and becomes a setting you choose with confidence — exam after exam, cohort after cohort.

TOUCH
Proportionate
Proportionate

The level of control matches the stakes of each assessment type, not imposed institution-wide, collecting the minimum data for the shortest time, as GDPR expects. 

TOUCH
Scalable
Scalable

 One workflow and one student experience whether there's fifty or tens of thousands students, on-site or remote, without the support burden and contract sprawl of point solutions. 

TOUCH
Compliant by design
Compliant by design

 EU hosting, GDPR-aligned processing, and a clear audit trail, with students able to review their own captured data so the process is never a black box. 

FOUR LEVELS OF INTEGRITY, ONE ASSESSMENT WORKFLOW

WISEflow treats exam integrity as a layered choice, not a single policy. Pick the level — or the combination — that fits each assessment, and manage it all from within the same WISEflow platform and student experience. So you can run a low-touch Device Monitor exam in the morning and a fully proctored licensing exam in the afternoon, without switching systems or asking students to learn a new environment. 

DEVICE MONITOR

Full desktop access with complete activity logging, screen capture and reviewable evidence.

  • Periodic screen captures during the exam
  • Application monitoring with prohibited-app rules
  • Action logs available live to invigilators
  • Enables Excel desktop, specialist tools and IDEs
  • Students can review their own screenshots on submission — supporting transparency
  • Evidence trail for post-exam integrity review

Best for: Open-book or tool-heavy exams (Excel, programming, CAD) that can’t run inside a lockdown browser but still need an integrity trail.

LOCKDOWN BROWSER

A dedicated client that locks the candidate’s own or institution’s lab device into the exam — no other apps, no browser, no copy-out.

  • Blocks copy-paste, external apps and unauthorised navigation
  • Built-in tools: drawing, webcam capture, code & LaTeX editor
  • Access to permitted internet resources inside the browser
  • The foundation for stricter integrity options

Best for: Standard closed-book essay or MCQ exams that need the controlled conditions of a lockdown browser exam.

FACIAL COMPARISON & AUDIO DETECTION

Soft, automated invigilation layered onto the lockdown browser — identity verification that confirms the right person sits the whole exam, without a live human watching every candidate.

  • Automated image capture at set intervals, matched against the student’s reference photo
  • Real-time comparison scores in the Participation Monitor
  • Configurable flags on low match scores for invigilator review
  • Voice detection with live transcription and audio playback
  • No continuous video stream — the purpose is identity assurance only
  • Used together or independently

Best for: Remote or on-site closed-book exams that need identity and presence assurance without full live proctoring.

Governance note: Facial and audio features engage special-category data. Enable them only where a DPIA addendum evidences necessity and proportionality, with short retention and human adjudication on any flag.

FULL PROCTORING

Fully proctored online exams inside WISEflow — real-time remote invigilation with identity verification, recording and active monitoring, all on EU data.

  • Choose how to review: self, AI, live human or post-exam
  • Automated ID verification at exam start
  • Webcam, screen and audio recording
  • Optional mobile-phone second camera for room view
  • AI flags: multiple persons, voices, copy/paste
  • Browser-based — nothing to install
  • EU servers and staff · ISO 27001 certified

Best for: High-stakes remote exams that need live proctoring, recordings and a defensible audit trail.

ON HOSTING

Proctoring runs on dedicated infrastructure that is hosted separately from the core assessment platform. Both environments sit in the EU, are GDPR-compliant and ISO 27001 certified — so wherever an exam sits, your data governance stays consistent.

BUILT AROUND EVERY STAKEHOLDER

1
For students
  • One familiar environment and login across every exam
  • The lightest-touch security appropriate to each exam
  • Browser-based options with nothing to install at most levels
  • Clear notice of what is captured, why, and for how long
  • Identity verification without a human watching the whole time
2
For examiners & invigilators
  • Flags and evidence surfaced in the Participation Monitor for fast triage
  • Match scores and transcripts focus attention where it matters
  • Review on your terms: self, AI, live human or post-exam
  • Audit-ready trails for appeals and academic integrity cases
3
For institutions & exam managers
  • One assessment workflow and one student experience at scale — across on-site, take-home and remote exams
  • Choose the integrity level exam by exam, not institution-wide
  • EU hosting, GDPR-aligned processing, ISO 27001, defined retention
  • A documented, defensible basis that holds up to students, data protection authorities and the press

SECURITY, PRIVACY AND TRUST BY DESIGN

GDPR-compliant proctoring should strengthen integrity without becoming a data-protection liability. Every level runs under the same governance model. 

Controller–processor model Your institution is the data controller; UNIwise is the processor under a GDPR Data Processing Agreement  
Same WISEflow experience Proctoring is hosted separately but still in the EU, with all captured media and logs stored on EU infrastructure — GDPR-compliant and ISO 27001 certified.   
Built for GDPR The processing is built for GDPR / UK GDPR and EU AI Act obligations that apply to higher-risk assessment.   
Role-based access Access is role-based, with defined retention periods and full audit trails on every action.   
Human-in-the-loop Automated signals only prioritise what to review — people, not algorithms, decide the outcomes.   
Feature-specific DPIA support DPIA support is feature-specific, with a dedicated Proctoring DPIA plus Device Monitor and Facial/Audio addenda to evidence necessity and proportionality.   

WHO IS WISEFLOW PROCTORING FOR?

Exam integrity isn't the concern of one team alone. WISEflow is built for the people across an institution who share responsibility for it — from exam and integrity teams to leadership, IT and data protection. 

EXAMS & INTEGRITY TEAMS

Proportionate controls chosen per assessment, not a blanket surveillance policy applied across the board. 

INSTITUTIONS

A mixed portfolio of on-site, take-home, open-book and remote closed-book exams, handled with one consistent approach. 

DATA PROTECTION & IT TEAMS

EU data residency, a clear lawful basis and a single vendor relationship. 

LEADERS

Accountability for fairness, transparency and a defensible audit trail in the AI era. 

READY TO SEE IT ON YOUR OWN EXAMS?

From a single high-stakes module to your full exam portfolio — see how WISEflow makes proctoring proportionate, scalable and defensible. 
Request a demo

NOT READY FOR A FULL ROLLOUT?

Start with one level on a single high-stakes module. Prove the approach in your own environment, then expand across the institution — same platform experience, same data governance.
Apply for a pilot

COMMON QUESTIONS ON SECURITY, PRIVACY AND FAIRNESS

What is the legal / GDPR basis for processing candidate data? Your institution is the data controller and decides the lawful basis (typically public task or legitimate interest for upholding academic integrity); UNIwise acts as processor under a GDPR Data Processing Agreement. For higher-risk features such as facial comparison, audio detection and live proctoring, WISEflow provides DPIA support — including a dedicated Proctoring DPIA — so you can document necessity and proportionality in line with GDPR / UK GDPR and EU AI Act obligations.
Where is student data stored, and who can access it? All captured media and logs are stored on EU infrastructure — EU data residency by default. The proctoring service runs on dedicated infrastructure hosted separately from the core platform, but it too is EU-hosted, GDPR-compliant and ISO 27001 certified. Access is role-based: only authorised invigilators and examiners at your institution can see exam evidence. Retention is defined and policy-aligned, with scheduled deletion. The specifics are documented in the WISEflow Trust Center.
Isn’t proctoring invasive for students and staff? That is exactly why it is a dial — and why take-home and open-book formats stay un-proctored. Where proctoring is warranted, the lower levels (Device Monitor, Lockdown Browser) involve no continuous video, and facial comparison captures periodic stills for an identity match, not a continuous stream. You apply the lightest level that meets the assessment’s risk, with transparent student notices, minimising surveillance while keeping integrity defensible. 
Could a student be wrongly flagged by an algorithm? Automated signals — match scores, voice flags — prioritise human review; they never decide outcomes on their own. A trained person always adjudicates, with room for accessibility and cultural context. This human-in-the-loop design is the safeguard against false positives and bias.
How much do students and administrators have to install? It depends on the level. Facial comparison, audio detection and full live proctoring are browser-based with nothing to install. Lockdown Browser uses a dedicated client. Because it is one platform experience with one student login, there is no per-module onboarding maze for students or admins.
Do we have to manage yet another third-party vendor? No. All four levels are delivered through WISEflow — one vendor, one contract and one support relationship — including remote invigilation and live proctoring. There are no point solutions to stitch together and no separate DPA to negotiate for each tool.
Can one approach really cover our full range of exam types? Yes — that is the point of layering. Tool-heavy open-book exams use Device Monitor; standard closed-book exams use a lockdown browser exam; remote exams needing identity verification and presence use Facial Comparison + Audio; high-stakes remote exams use full live proctoring. Take-home and open-book assessments that need no supervision simply run in WISEflow without it. Same platform experience, chosen exam by exam.

NEW: How ready is your institution for digital assessment? Find out in 15 minutes. Take the free check here