SEB

Safe Exam Browser

Concept of SEB

General Concept

SEB runs on a local computer and it is connected via the internet to a learning management system (LMS). Generally SEB works with any web based LMS, although in the current version there are some limitations (only one window/tab supported). Currently the two wide spread learning management systems ILIAS and Moodle offer a quiz mode specifically compatible with SEB.

System Architecture of SEB

SEB consists of a kiosk application and a browser part, which are running on a examination computer. The kiosk application locks down the examination computer, the browser part comunicates via the internet (or a LAN) with the quiz module of a LMS running on a server.

Schematic illustration of a online exam with Safe Exam Browser and a LMS, for example ILIAS or Moodle. In addition a third party application can be allowed to run at the same time, for example Excel or R

Components of the System Architecture

The illustration above shows the two internal components which SEB consists of, the kiosk application and the browser part. The third part of a SEB exam environment is build into the supported LMS. Optionally one or several third party application(s) can be allowed to run during an exam and are started by the SEB kiosk application.

1. The kiosk application locks down the computer and starts the SEB browser plus optional third party applications. Since this application has to control miscellaneous OS functions, it is designed very system specific.
2. The SEB browser connects with the preset URL of the LMS exam page and doesn't show any navigation elements like address bar, search engine field etc. The Windows version of SEB uses the Mozilla Gecko browser engine, either in the form of Portable Firefox or XULRunner. SEB for Mac OS X uses the WebKit browser engine.
3. The learning management systems contain so-called quiz modules, which are used for onlline exams. SEB relies on extensions/skins to the quiz modules in Moodle and ILIAS for safe exams. With these extensions the user interface of the LMS is reduced to just contain navigation for the exam (no links to other pages outside the quiz) and no other undesirable features like messaging. An exam can also be configured to run only with SEB, not another browser. These SEB LMS extensions, which originally had to be installed separately to achive this connectivity with SEB, have been integrated into the LMS in recent versions of ILIAS and Moodle.

System Architecture of SEB Windows using Portable Firefox

Safe Exam Browser for Windows until version 1.3.x consists of the SEB kiosk application, which opens an own Windows desktop and catches system commands like keyboard shortcuts (for example ALT+F4) and right mouse-button clicks. The second part is Mozilla's Portable Firefox Browser with a kiosk mode browsing add-on, which connects to the Learning Management System. Menu items of the browser, its navigation and status bars are disabled by the add-on.

System Architecture of SEB Windows using XULRunner

The latest versions 1.4 and above of Safe Exam Browser for Windows replace Portable Firefox with XULRunner, a runtime package from the Mozilla Foundation (Firefox version 3 and above is also based on XULRunner). The SEB browser part running on XULRunner also connects to the LMS and it doesn't contain navigation and status bars.

System Architecture of SEB MacOSX

In contrast to the Windows version, Safe Exam Browser for Mac OS X is a monolithic application using a web browser framework instead of a browser runtime. It's using the WebKit engine, on which Safari and some new open source browsers like Google Chrome are based. SEB MacOSX connects to the Learning Management Systems in the same way as the Windows version. The user interface and configuration of SEB MacOSX is following Apple standards and therefore differs from SEB Windows, but it is planed to enhance the user interface of SEB Windows to offer the same easy configuration options as in the Mac version.

Features

Common/Identical Features

• VM detector: SEB detects whether it is running on a virtual machine and can refuse to start up
• Build in connection to ILIAS and Moodle

SEB Windows

• Fullscreen mode (without any navigation elements)
• Disabled actions (default):
  • Shortcuts/Keys as Win, CTRL+ALT+DEL (Windows XP), ALT+F4, F1, CTRL+P etc.
  • Right-click
  • Switch to other applications (unless permitted)
  • Process monitoring and killing of not allowed processes starting up while SEB is running
  • Menu options on Windows Security Screen on Windows 7 removed while SEB is running
• Separate configuration tool with graphical user interface.
• Third party applications can be allowed to run together with SEB, it can be switched between them with an App Chooser window

SEB MacOSX

• Multiple browser windows possible which can be resized (without any navigation elements), additional screens get blacked out.
• Preferences window for easy set up, can be protected with an administrator password.
• Disabled actions:
  • Quit SEB (can be disabled or protected by a quit password)
  • OS X Dock and Menu bar
  • Switch to other applications with process switcher (cmd+Tab/cmd+Shift+Tab)
  • Force Quit window (cmd+opt+Esc)
  • Normal reboot (ctrl+cmd+eject) and shutdown (ctrl+opt+cmd+eject)
  • Hiding the application or minimizing the window, printing and Exposé
  • Right-click (context menu)
  • Optionally hyperlinks requesting to be opened in a new window and links embedded in JavaScript or plug-ins directing to another server than the one of the current host
  • Display and system idle sleep
  • Context menu options in Flash fullscreen video players
• Third party applications can be allowed to run together with SEB (in an accordingly configured OS X user account)

Technical Details

SEB Windows

Operating System: Microsoft Windows XP and Windows 7
License: Mozilla Public License (MPL)
Browser Engine: Mozilla Gecko (Portable Firefox/XULRunner)
Programming Language: C++, JavaScript

SEB MacOSX

Operating System: Mac OS X 10.6 and OS X 10.7
License: Mozilla Public License (MPL)
Browser Engine: WebKit
Programming Language: Objective-C (Cocoa)

Acknowledgement

Important parts of this project have been carried out as part of the program "AAA/SWITCH –
e-Infrastructure for e-Science" lead by
SWITCH, the Swiss National Research and Education Network, and was
supported by funds from the ETH Board.