Security and content protection using candidate trust score

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10846639-B2
Application number	US-201815939058-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 28, 2018
Priority date	Dec 27, 2017
Publication date	Nov 24, 2020
Grant date	Nov 24, 2020

Abstract

A system includes one or more server hardware computing devices communicatively coupled to a network. The one or more server hardware computing devices include one or more processors and memory storing specific computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the system to receive a first request to calculate a trust score for a user associated with a user account of an online proctored examination platform. The trust score represents results of a risk analysis of the user. The instructions cause the system to obtain internal data of the online proctored examination platform, the internal data describing usage of the online proctored examination platform by the user, perform the risk analysis using at least the internal data to produce the trust score, associate the trust score with the user account, and perform an action based on the trust score.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A system, comprising one or more server hardware computing devices communicatively coupled to a network, the one or more server hardware computing devices comprising one or more processors and memory storing:
first decision logic executable by the one or more processors to produce, based on data associated with a plurality of candidate risk factors, a candidate trust score within a predefined range; and
specific computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the system to:
receive a first message associated with a first user account of an online proctored examination platform, wherein the online proctored examination platform provides monitoring of examinations using a set of computing resources;
determine that the first message includes a request to perform a first risk analysis of a candidate associated with the first user account, the first risk analysis describing a risk of cheating or theft posed by the candidate to the online proctored examination platform;
identify, in the plurality of candidate risk factors, one or more internal factors and one or more external factors;
obtain, from one or more internal data stores of the online proctored examination platform, internal data associated with the one or more internal factors;
obtain, from one or more external data sources that are external to the online proctored examination platform, external data associated with the candidate and with the one or more external factors;
execute the first decision logic, using the internal data and the external data as the data associated with the plurality of candidate risk factors, to produce a first trust score within the predefined range, the first trust score representing the risk posed by the candidate;
associate the first trust score with the first user account;
identify a set of computing resources based on the first trust score;
configure the online proctored examination platform to utilize the set of computing resources to monitor an examination process of a user associated with the first user account and
perform a first action based on the first trust score.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the one or more server hardware computing devices are in communication, via the network, with a first client device used by the candidate to perform the examination process on the online proctored examination platform, and the instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, further cause the system to:
receive user input from the first client device in each of a plurality of phases of the examination process, the plurality of phases including:
a registration phase that includes validating the candidate's identity and testing environment;
a greeting phase that includes matching the candidate to a proctor and establishing at least one of a video data connection and an audio data connection between the first client device and a second client device used by the proctor to access the online proctored examination platform; and
an examination phase that includes administering an examination and facilitating the proctor to monitor the candidate during the examination; and

parse the user input based on the one or more internal factors to produce real-time data associated with the one or more internal factors, the internal data comprising the real-time data.

3. The system of claim 1 , wherein to perform the first action, the instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the system to:
associate, with the predefined range for the candidate trust score, one or more examination parameters that configure an examination requested by the candidate, so that the one or more examination parameters are modified to provide an increasing level of monitoring of the candidate during the examination as the risk posed by the candidate, indicated by the candidate trust score, increases;
determine, based on the first trust score, corresponding values of the examination parameters; and
cause the examination to be configured using the corresponding values of the examination parameters.

4. The system of claim 1 , wherein the memory further stores second decision logic executable by the one or more processors to produce a proctor trust score based on data associated with a plurality of proctor risk factors, and the instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, further cause the system to:
receive a second message associated with a second user account of an online proctored examination platform;
determine that the second message includes a request to perform a second risk analysis of a proctor associated with the second user account, the second risk analysis describing a fraud risk posed by the proctor to the online proctored examination platform;
obtain, from the one or more internal data stores, historical data associated with the second user account and with the plurality of proctor risk factors;
execute the second decision logic, using the historical as the data associated with the plurality of proctor risk factors, to produce a second trust score representing the fraud risk posed by the proctor;
associate the second trust score with the second user account; and
perform a second action based on the second trust score.

5. A system, comprising one or more server hardware computing devices communicatively coupled to a network, the one or more server hardware computing devices comprising one or more processors and memory storing specific computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the system to:
receive a first request to calculate a trust score for a user associated with a user account of an online proctored examination platform, the trust score representing results of a risk analysis of the user, wherein the online proctored examination platform provides monitoring of examinations using a set of computing resources;
obtain internal data of the online proctored examination platform, the internal data describing usage of the online proctored examination platform by the user;
perform the risk analysis using at least the internal data to produce the trust score;
associate the trust score with the user account; and
perform an action based on the trust score, wherein the action includes:
identifying a set of computing resources based on the first trust score;
configuring the online proctored examination platform to utilize the set of computing resources to monitor an examination process of a user associated with the first user account.

6. The system of claim 5 , wherein the internal data comprises information describing user input collected by the online proctored examination platform from a client device used by the user to access the online proctored examination platform and to participate in the examination process.

7. The system of claim 6 , wherein the examination process comprises a plurality of phases including an examination phase wherein an examination is administered, the user input comprises video data captured by an imaging device of the client device during one or more pre-examination phases, of the plurality of phases, occurring before the examination phase, and the instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the system to:
receive, as the internal data, the information describing the user input; and
to perform the risk analysis:
determine that the information describing the user input includes a testing environment alert generated by the online proctored examination platform in response to a determination that the video data depicts a security violation in a testing environment of the user; and
calculate the trust score based at least in part on an identification of high-risk behavior of th

Assignees

• Pearson Education Inc

Inventors

• Anderson Gregory
• Bailey Wayne
• Dolan Colleen M
• Fajobi Jide
• Jensen Darrick
• Lancaster Jr Ronald D
• Maloney Matthew
• Nealis Michael
• Nordberg Steven C
• Pascale Peter
• Stockinger Andrew

Classifications

• H04L67/306

  User profiles · CPC title

• H04L67/60

  Scheduling or organising the servicing of application requests, e.g. requests for application data transmissions using the analysis and optimisation of the required network resources (admission control or resource allocation H04L47/70) · CPC title

• H04L67/52

  specially adapted for the location of the user terminal · CPC title

• H04L67/01

  Protocols · CPC title

• G06V20/46

  Extracting features or characteristics from the video content, e.g. video fingerprints, representative shots or key frames · CPC title