Session-Based Identity Verification
Overview
Some exams use Session-Based Identity Verification, an optional feature your institution or exam administrator can enable to help confirm that the same person remains present throughout the exam. When it is enabled, the Before You Begin page will let you know before your exam starts.
This article explains how Session-Based Identity Verification works, how it protects your privacy, what your exam administrators can review after your exam, and answers common questions about the feature.
Understanding the Technology
Session-Based Identity Verification may be described as a biometric check, and that word understandably raises questions. When most people hear "biometrics," they think of systems like airport face scanners, a technology that stores a lasting record of your face and can recognize or identify you later.
That is not what this feature does. Session-Based Identity Verification does not identify you, does not know who you are, and does not create a lasting biometric record of your face. It answers one narrow question during your exam: Is the same person still here?
How It Works
It detects change—it does not recognize you: The feature has no concept of who is in frame. It cannot identify you, compare your face against a database, or recognize you in a future exam.
Everything happens on your device: All processing takes place locally, inside your browser, on your own computer. The temporary data generated during processing never leaves your device—it is not uploaded to Proctorio, your institution, or any third party.
No identifying information is retained after your exam: The temporary data is permanently deleted when your exam ends. Your images, and video recordings are handled separately and are viewable only by authorized staff at your institution.
How It Differs from Traditional Facial Recognition
| Common facial recognition | Session-Based Identity Verification |
|---|---|
| Stores a lasting record of your face | Creates a temporary reference that is deleted when the session ends |
| Compares you against a database of other people | Checks only that the same person stays present within one session |
| Can identify who you are | Only detects whether the face on camera changed |
| Facial data is uploaded and retained | Facial data never leaves your device and is never saved |
| Can recognize you across sessions and settings | Has no memory of any other exam |
What Your Reviewer Sees
Like any Proctorio exam, your webcam images and video are end-to-end encrypted and made available only to authorized staff at your institution.
If Session-Based Identity Verification detects that the face on camera appears to have changed during the exam, it adds a Potential Candidate Mismatch flag for the reviewer. No other information from the comparison is retained or shared.
A flag is not an accusation or a decision. It simply identifies a moment for a human reviewer to examine in context and determine what, if anything, it means.
