Exam Recorder Suite (ERS)

Author: A. Z. M. Arif
Website: https://azmarif.dev

A professional-grade system for secure terminal session recording during exams, consisting of two components:

1. exam-recorder - Student-side secure terminal session recorder
2. exam-viewer - Instructor-side decrypter, analyzer, and log viewer

Features

exam-recorder

• Real-time terminal activity logging (keystrokes, commands, output)
• Paste event detection (bracketed paste mode + timing heuristics)
• AES-256 encryption with password-protected ZIP output
• Tamper-resistant with integrity checks
• Hidden state management with encrypted storage
• Cross-platform support (Linux-focused)

exam-viewer

• Secure decryption of student exam logs
• Integrity verification (SHA256)
• Comprehensive analysis and reporting
• Suspicious activity detection
• Export to PDF/Markdown/JSON
• Timeline replay support

Installation

See INSTALL.md for detailed installation instructions.

Quick Start (From Source)

git clone <repository-url>
cd exam-recorder-suite
cargo build --release
sudo cp target/release/exam-recorder /usr/local/bin/
sudo cp target/release/exam-viewer /usr/local/bin/

Distribution Packages

Build scripts are provided for:

• .deb (Debian/Ubuntu) - ./scripts/build-deb.sh
• .rpm (RedHat/Fedora) - ./scripts/build-rpm.sh
• .tar.gz (Generic Linux) - ./scripts/build-tar.sh

See INSTALL.md for details.

Usage

Student Side (exam-recorder)

exam-recorder

The tool will:

• Start recording terminal activity
• Log all keystrokes, commands, and output
• Generate encrypted ZIP on exit
• Save to: exam-result-<username>-<timestamp>.zip

Instructor Side (exam-viewer)

# Open and analyze exam log
exam-viewer open exam-result-username-12345.zip

# Get summary only
exam-viewer summary exam-result-username-12345.zip

# Verify integrity
exam-viewer verify exam-result-username-12345.zip

# Export report
exam-viewer export exam-result-username-12345.zip --pdf report.pdf

Security

• All data encrypted with AES-256
• Password-protected ZIP archives
• SHA256 integrity verification
• Tamper detection mechanisms
• Encrypted state storage
• Restricted file permissions

Important: Before production use, change the instructor password in exam-recorder/src/recorder.rs and rebuild. See CONFIGURATION.md for details.

License

MIT License

Documentation

• Installation Guide - Detailed installation instructions
• Configuration Guide - Configuration and security settings
• LICENSE - MIT License

Architecture

       ┌──────────────────────────────────────────┐
       │        Student Computer (Offline)        │
       ├──────────────────────────────────────────┤
       │ exam-recorder                            │
       │  - PTY Proxy                             │
       │  - Keystroke Logger                      │
       │  - Paste Detector                        │
       │  - Output Recorder                       │
       │  - Metadata Collector                    │
       │  - State Manager (enc + protected)       │
       │  - AES-256 Encryptor                     │
       │  - ZIP Generator (AES-256)              │
       └──────────────┬───────────────────────────┘
                      │
                      │ Encrypted ZIP (submitted manually)
                      ▼
       ┌──────────────────────────────────────────┐
       │          Instructor Computer              │
       ├──────────────────────────────────────────┤
       │ exam-viewer                              │
       │  - ZIP Decryptor                         │
       │  - AES-256 File Decryptor                │
       │  - Integrity Verifier (SHA256)           │
       │  - Log Parser                            │
       │  - Analyzer + Suspicion Detector         │
       │  - Report Generator (JSON/TXT/PDF)       │
       └──────────────────────────────────────────┘

Author

A. Z. M. Arif - https://azmarif.dev