Safe Exam Browser turns any computer temporarily into a secure workstation. It controls access to resources like system functions, other websites and applications and prevents unauthorized resources being used during an exam.

General Concept

SEB runs on a local computer and it is connected via the internet to a learning management system (LMS) or an e-assessment system. Generally SEB works with any web based LMS and other kinds of web based exam systems. Some learning management systems (LMS) like for example Moodle, ILIAS, OpenOLAT and exam solutions as Inspera Assessment offer a quiz mode specifically compatible with SEB.

Architecture

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

Components

The illustration above shows the two internal components which SEB consists of, the kiosk application and the browser part. The third part of an 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.

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.

The SEB browser loads and displays the LMS exam page using a preset URL and doesn't show any navigation elements like address bar, search engine field etc. The Windows version of SEB currently uses the Mozilla Gecko browser engine, either in the form of Firefox or XULRunner. SEB for macOS and iOS use the WebKit browser engine.

The learning management systems contain so-called quiz modules, which are used for online exams. SEB relies on extensions/skins to the quiz modules in Moodle and ILIAS for secure 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 achieve this connectivity with SEB, have been integrated into the LMS in recent versions of ILIAS and Moodle.

SEB for Windows

Safe Exam Browser for Windows consists of the SEB kiosk application, which opens an own Windows desktop and blocks system commands like keyboard shortcuts (for example ALT+F4) and right mouse button clicks. The second part is Firefox, running in a so-called XUL runtime mode. The SEB XUL browser application running on Firefox connects to the LMS, using a pre-configured start URL. The SEB browser doesn't contain a URL or search field and navigation controls (back/forward, reload) can be disabled.

SEB for macOS and iOS

In contrast to the Windows version, Safe Exam Browser for macOS and iOS 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 open source browsers are based. Otherwise, SEB for macOS/iOS connect to the Learning Management Systems in the same way as the Windows version.

Configuration

Safe Exam Browser enables secure exams on unmanaged computers like students' own laptops and tablets as well as in managed environments on all three platforms Windows, macOS and iOS. Starting version 2.0, SEB offers an individual configuration per exam, which is protected by a strong encryption against manipulation. Thanks to an elaborate authentication feature, the exam system can verify that a particular, unaltered SEB version and the correct exam settings are used for an examination. This facilitates secure exams especially on unmanaged computers like students' own laptops/tablets.

Safe Exam Browser 2.0 and later is a unified version which brings almost the same features, exam system interface, compatible configuration files and a very similar user interface onto all three platforms, while still taking in account operating system differences and unique platform specific features.

Features

  • Managed web browser, which can be configured using encrypted configuration files
  • Using special hyperlinks, SEB can be started from other web browsers and reconfigured individually per exam
  • Fullscreen mode or multiple browser windows which can be resized (without any navigation elements), browser tabs on iPad
  • VM detector: SEB detects whether it is running on a virtual machine or a jailbroken device and can refuse to start up
  • URL filter to allow accessing only specific web sites, pages or resources
  • Certificate pinning to prevent man-in-the-middle attacks on the connection to exam servers
  • Spell checking and dictionary lookup is disabled, can optionally be allowed
  • Built-in connection to Moodle, ILIAS, OpenOLAT, Inspera Assessment and others, can be used with basically any web-based examination system

SEB for Windows

  • Disabled actions (in default settings):
  • Windows Task Bar and the Start Menu
  • Switch to other applications invoked by Alt+Tab or Windows+Tab (unless permitted)
  • Menu options on the Windows Security Screen invoked with Ctrl+Alt+Delete are removed while SEB is running
  • Display and system idle sleep
  • Print Screen and some other keyboard shortcuts like ALT+F4
  • VMware shade (toolbar) when using VMware Horizon View Client for VDI
  • Process monitoring hides or terminates not allowed processes while SEB is running
  • Separate configuration tool with graphical user interface
  • Third party applications can be allowed to run together with SEB, they can be started or switched to with icons in a SEB taskbar or the Alt+Tab shortcut
  • Configurable spell checking dictionaries
  • Additional resources like web pages or whole sites, HTML and PDF documents, even full web applications can be used in exams

SEB for macOS

  • Disabled actions:
  • Quit SEB (can be disabled or protected by a quit password)
  • macOS 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, optionally only such directing to another server than the one of the current host
  • Display and system idle sleep
  • Context menu options in Flash fullscreen video players
  • macOS screen capture
  • Preferences window for easy set up, can be protected with an administrator password.
  • Teach mode to easily create URL filter rules for restricting access to particular web sites/pages/resources.
  • Third party applications can be allowed to run together with SEB, but only in an accordingly configured macOS user account

SEB for iOS

  • Using the iOS built-in Assessment Mode (Automatic Assessment Configuration - AAC), which disables all unwanted system features even with BYOD. Also blocking screen capture using AirPlay or Lightning/USB-C cable.
  • Students cannot switch to other apps, access other websites or communicate with other students during an exam. Note that you need to set up a SEB Quit Password for the secure mode to be active!
  • Notifications, FaceTime/voice calls and screen shots are also blocked.
  • In-app settings for easy set up, can be protected with an administrator password.
  • QR codes can be used to start exams with individual settings or to configure the SEB client to load an individual exam system start/portal page.
  • Supporting deployment of SEB settings using a mobile device management system, as it supports the iOS feature "MDM Managed Configuration".

What's New

Safe Exam Browser 3.5.0 for Windows released:

This feature update adds the App Signature Key functionality for server sessions, contains the new server-driven Browser Exam Key and brings a new configuration option for the file system dialog along with various accessibility improvements as well as important bug fixes. Below a list of the most prominent new features and changes:

  • Implemented basic mechanism for app signature key (ASK) exchange.
  • Implemented custom browser exam key defined by server.
  • Implemented session integrity verification.
  • Implemented new configuration option to show or hide the path of file system elements.
  • Added basic user agent for network resource requests.
  • Various accessibility improvements and bugfixes.
  • Updated browser engine to version 111.2.20 (Chromium version 111.0.5563.65).

See release notes for all changes and read the manual for more information.

Safe Exam Browser 3.2.5 for macOS released:

New in SEB 3.2.5:

  • Fixed: Force Click lookup was working in the classic WebView on macOS 13 Ventura.

New in SEB 3.2.4:

  • Blocking AnyGPT by default.
  • Fixed: Untimely modal alert freezes SEB. Modal alerts were sometimes displayed behind the black background covering windows.

Security improvements.

  • Fixed download directory bug from SEB 3.2.3 for macOS.
  • Now also showing "Downloads not Allowed" alert in modern WebView if settings don't allow downloads and in one case for downloads in classic WebView on macOS.
  • Now checking if download directory is correctly set when performing download in WKWebView. If not, the Downloads directory is used.
  • Now also correctly handling PDF files in modern WebView when downloading is disabled (then PDF files even with a "download" link are displayed instead of downloaded).
  • Fixed "Choose file to upload ... by only allowing to upload the same file downloaded before" policy, which was not working in the modern WebView. Also resetting previous download paths when reconfiguring SEB.

New since 3.2.3/3.2.2/3.2.1:

  • Fixed downloads of website generated files (using "data:" protocol scheme) in modern WebView.
  • Now downloads of any file types and "blob:"-generated files are possible when using the modern WebView and macOS 11.3 or newer.
  • Fixed crash when closing some web pages.
  • Fixed: Force Click lookup was working in the modern WebView.
  • Fixed red lock screen after user switch disappeared without user action.
  • Latest TeamViewer version wasn't blocked by default.
  • Fixed reload key shortcut not enabled correctly according to reload settings and selected window (main/additional).
  • Optional features which need to be individually configured and are disabled by default
  • New in 3.2.4: When using the optional SEB Server, an SEB client can be locked (with a red lock screen with optional, individual message) and unlocked again by the server.
  • Massively improved error handling when connecting to SEB Server with better error messages which can help SEB Server and exam administrators to fix server-side issues.
  • Added support for fallback option, when connecting to SEB Server fails completely. In that case, an alternative start URL can be configured and fallback optionally protected with a new password.
  • Improved sending log events, to prevent loosing single events due to temporary connectivity issues.

Note: This version does not contain the Zoom integration for exam proctoring or exam support which was contained in SEB 3.2rc. There is a non-public SEB Alliance Edition, which continues to support Zoom integration. If you are interested to use this Zoom integration, please contact alliance@safeexambrowser.org.