 Dr. Yair Levy & Michelle Ramim – Chais 2007, Israel – February 20, A Theoretical Approach for Biometrics Authentication of e-Exams By: Yair Levy Yair Levy Nova Southeastern University and Michelle M. Ramim Nova Southeastern University

 Dr. Yair Levy & Michelle Ramim – Chais 2007, Israel – February 20, password בסיסמה Maya: Dad, when you were young, did you use a password to login to your computer? Dad: Yes, I can remember those days… מאיה: כשהיתה צעיר הישתמשתה בסיסמה להכנס למחשב שלך? אבא: כן, אני זוכר את הזמנים ההם...

 Dr. Yair Levy & Michelle Ramim – Chais 2007, Israel – February 20, Statement of the problem E-learning has become a powerful medium for academic institutions Major growth in e-learning in the past decade –56% of all US colleges offered e-learning courses in 2000–2001 academic year*. –Over three million students enrolled in e- learning courses in the US in *. Opponents of e-learning argue that the inability to authenticate e-exam takers is one of the major challenges of e-learning * Source: United States Department of Education, National Center of Educational Statistics (NCES) (2005)

 Dr. Yair Levy & Michelle Ramim – Chais 2007, Israel – February 20, Theoretical Background Unethical conduct in e-learning Unethical conduct during exams Security in e-Learning Biometric Solutions Fingerprint Biometric Solutions

 Dr. Yair Levy & Michelle Ramim – Chais 2007, Israel – February 20, Unethical Conduct in E-earning Unethical conduct - “a major concern” (Kennedy et al., 2000) Additional mechanisms are necessary to authenticate users’ access in various e- learning course activities not just in the initial login (Newton, 2003) Students’ unethical conduct has intensified as a result of the use of technology and the Internet (Pillsbury, 2004) Need to focus not only on plagiarism (Naude & Hörne, 2006)

 Dr. Yair Levy & Michelle Ramim – Chais 2007, Israel – February 20, Unethical Conduct During Exams Cheating on exams has been reported at an alarming range of 74% (Center for Academic Integrity, 2005) Students’ unethical conduct related to exam taking perceived by faculty to be one of the most serious unethical behaviors (Pincus & Schmelkin, 2003)

 Dr. Yair Levy & Michelle Ramim – Chais 2007, Israel – February 20, Security in E-Learning Yu and Tsao (2003) discussed security challenges of e-learning environments Huang et al. (2004) discussed aspects of security in e-learning systems and suggested ways to secure e-learning systems. Ramim and Levy (2006) – a case study (JCIT) of a small academic institution faced a cyber attach to their e-learning environment by an insider intruder.

 Dr. Yair Levy & Michelle Ramim – Chais 2007, Israel – February 20, Biometric Solutions Biometric is defined as “the application of computational methods to biological features, especially with regard to the study of unique biological characteristics of humans” (Tabitha, et al., 2006, p. 3) Unique characteristics: –Physiological biometric: retinal and iris, fingerprints, facial images, hand prints, DNA, etc. –Behavioral biometric: voice, key board typing, attitude Major popularity growth of biometric solutions, especially after 9/11

 Dr. Yair Levy & Michelle Ramim – Chais 2007, Israel – February 20, Biometric Solutions (Cont.) Usability aspect of biometrics authentication systems is “a tradeoff between usability, memorability and security” (Coventry et al., 2003, p. 153). Traditional password & PINs authentication methods are regularly increasing their length – difficult to remember! Fingerprints systems are currently used in the Disney® parks, financial industry, U.S. immigration services, etc.

 Dr. Yair Levy & Michelle Ramim – Chais 2007, Israel – February 20, Fingerprint Biometric Solutions Price of biometric devices is falling in the past decade (Pons, 2006) Increase reliability – false rejection rate that is only 0.01%, or 1 out of 100,000 cases JayPeetek Inc.’s Scan.U.MatchTM DigitalPersona

 Dr. Yair Levy & Michelle Ramim – Chais 2007, Israel – February 20, Fingerprint Biometric Solutions (Cont.)

 Dr. Yair Levy & Michelle Ramim – Chais 2007, Israel – February 20, Biometric Solutions – Servers JayPeetek Inc.’s AuthenteonTM Server

 Dr. Yair Levy & Michelle Ramim – Chais 2007, Israel – February 20, The Proposed Theoretical Framework

 Dr. Yair Levy & Michelle Ramim – Chais 2007, Israel – February 20, Propositions Proposition 1: Students taking e-exams using the fingerprints biometric solution will have lower grades on the e-exam than their counterparts. Proposition 2: Students taking e-exams using the fingerprints biometric solution will take longer time to complete their e-exam than their counterparts.

 Dr. Yair Levy & Michelle Ramim – Chais 2007, Israel – February 20, Some Observed Limitations In a remote setting, students may ask to have a subject matter expert seat next to them while they take the exam The costs associated with implementing such study in an experimental basis, let alone in a large scale e-learning program Individual perceptions on the use of biometric systems may prevent consent to take part of the study, hence, limit data collection

 Dr. Yair Levy & Michelle Ramim – Chais 2007, Israel – February 20, Thank you! Questions?

 Dr. Yair Levy & Michelle Ramim – Chais 2007, Israel – February 20, Yair Levy, Ph.D. Assistant Professor Nova Southeastern University Graduate School of Computer and Information Sciences The DeSantis Building - Room College Avenue Fort Lauderdale, FL Tel.: Fax: Site: Contact Information - Levy

 Dr. Yair Levy & Michelle Ramim – Chais 2007, Israel – February 20, Michelle M. Ramim, Ph.D. (ABD) Adjunct Professor Nova Southeastern University H. Wayne Huizenga School of Business and Entrepreneurship The DeSantis Building 3301 College Avenue Ft. Lauderdale, FL Site: Contact Information - Ramim

 Dr. Yair Levy & Michelle Ramim – Chais 2007, Israel – February 20, International Journal of Doctoral Studies (IJDS) Mission: The mission of the International Journal of Doctoral Studies (IJDS) is to provide readers worldwide with high quality peer-reviewed scholarly articles on a wide variety of issues in doctoral studies using the Informing Science (IS) framework. The editorial objective of IJDS is the facilitation of knowledge enhancement related to doctoral studies in areas such as (but not limited to): informing science, information systems, information technology, information science, information security, and IT education. Yair Levy, Editor-in-Chief