Shari Lewison, Chief Information Security Officer at Examity, provides insight about how Examity is always striving to improve and develop innovative approaches to our security, privacy, and technology. An expert in her field, she is in charge of information security at Examity and making sure that our governance, risk management, and compliance functions are heading in the right direction. At Examity, protecting the security and privacy of not just our clients, but also our organization and our employees, is top priority. 

What makes Examity a leader in information security?
For any organization, technology, people, and processes are critical components of security.   One way that Examity is a leader in information security is demonstrated by our move to a new platform, which created a much more consistent security experience for our clients. Examity also understands the important role that people play in information security. Our employees, and especially our amazing proctoring staff, are on the front line of interacting with our most valuable data, and they are always interfacing with technology. Everyone at Examity is very focused on serving our clients, and our clients are very focused on their security needs. We have established processes and procedures to engage with our test-takers in a way that satisfies our clients in order to ensure we are meeting their security needs.

How does Examity approach privacy and security?
At Examity, we understand how important privacy is to our test-takers and our clients. Expectations regarding privacy are high, particularly on an individual level. A good privacy program combines institutional awareness and respect for individuals’ rights to privacy. If there is an option to protect someone’s individual information, you protect it. The bars for privacy and security are constantly being raised. Basic security “blocking and tackling” includes having policies, conducting training, assessing our applications and infrastructure, and reviewing the ever-changing security landscape. Cybersecurity threats are routinely in the media, which means there is greater awareness and sensitivity to ensuring data and systems are protected.  The higher level of exposure also means that people are conditioned to understanding the level of risks and taking responsibility for their role in security. We also balance our diligent security practices with ensuring that systems are accessible and available. As a leader in security, Examity is very cognizant of our impact on the people that we serve, and we are on the right path to ensuring the best security model to support our test-takers, our clients, and our business.

What are some ways that Examity is expanding, developing, and improving our technology?Examity’s technology leaders want to be sure that the investments we make are going to move us forward. We invest in our applications and database, our reporting capabilities, and our technical architecture. The infrastructure that our platforms are built on is both robust and secure. Technology and security are two areas that can be very expensive in any organization. Examity plans for technology and security investments carefully and deliberately. To some extent, we keep an eye on where the customers are going, and where the platforms need to be, and we bring those two factors together to create success. We strive to deliver the most secure and flexible solutions to meet the highest needs of our customers.

What are some new strategies that Examity is making in regards to technology and security? One strategy is automation: The road to scalability in information technology and security is paved with automation. If an issue needs to be evaluated, for instance, our security analysts work with our IT operations team to figure out how to connect and automatically generate a ticket that will go to the appropriate queue to be worked on. Another security strategy we are embracing is evaluating “build versus buy” capability in terms of security analysis and engineering. We are currently considering the value of partnering with a managed security service that would perform some of the automation and alert us to events that require investigation. This would enable our security team to focus on the issues that require the most skill and attention.  

How is security important in our everyday lives? What can we do to protect ourselves and our organization?
Protecting personal data and sensitive information is something that everyone is faced with, both personally and professionally. Security is everyone’s responsibility at Examity, and we take it very seriously. We rely on and appreciate employees being diligent and understanding the value they bring to the company. For example, when an employee forwards a suspicious email to our security team asking “Does this look like phishing?,” it shows us how important keeping our information safe is to them. Completing the required Security Awareness training is valuable to not only our organization, but also to our employees, by demonstrating our commitment and understanding of our responsibilities regarding security to our clients.

Security awareness is also important on a personal level to protect your own information and accounts. Some simple recommendations for protecting your personal information include:  

• Don’t reuse the same passwords across all of your accounts.
• Change your password on a periodic basis, or whenever you have a concern.
• If something strikes you as odd on an account, make sure to change your password immediately.
• Don’t click on suspicious links, or anything from a sender you don’t recognize.
• Make sure you protect your personal devices with current anti-virus software.

For any security-related questions, please contact [email protected]. 

Ready to find out how secure and flexible Examity’s online proctoring solution is? Contact us today.