Fair and non-repudiable protocol for exchange of e-examination question paper and answer-scripts

Abstract

Examination system is the pivotal point around which the whole system of education is based. Examination system comprises of number of laborious and error prone tasks, needing immense resources and time. Numerous electronic examination systems have been designed with the intent of improving the efficiency of current examination system. However, the existing e-examination systems are usually designed with little consideration for security and legal compliance. Providing adequate security services are desired in e-examination system, specially in those examinations which evaluate students for grading. In this paper, we explore the use of security protocols for exchanging question paper and answer-scripts between examination authority and students in a fair and non-repudiable manner without the involvement of trusted third party (TTP). We intend to use PROMELA for formal modelling of such protocols and SPIN tool for checking the validity of the proposed protocol. Examination system is the pivotal point around which the whole system of education is based. Examination system comprises of number of laborious and error prone tasks, needing immense resources and time. Numerous electronic examination systems have been designed with the intent of improving the efficiency of current examination system. However, the existing e-examination systems are usually designed with little consideration for security and legal compliance. Providing adequate security services are desired in e-examination system, specially in those examinations which evaluate students for grading. In this paper, we explore the use of security protocols for exchanging question paper and answer-scripts between examination authority and students in a fair and non-repudiable manner without the involvement of trusted third party (TTP). We intend to use PROMELA for formal modelling of such protocols and SPIN tool for checking the validity of the proposed protocol.