CAGEN
ACNB Security:
Security Procedures are broken down into three categories: Personnel, Physical and Electronic. The first, personnel, includes those people who have access to any of the confidential information regarding the assessment instruments and the candidate/certificant information. All of these individuals must sign a confidentiality waiver prior to gaining access to any information that is not open to the public. No certificant that is not current with the Board is permitted any access to information.
During all test development activities, the participants in Subject Matter Expert groups are signed into and out of the committee room each time they enter or leave. No materials may leave the room with the individual. No electronic devices that may transmit information from the test committee room are permitted. The Test Development Director and the Test Administrator handle the computers used to transcribe the information from the committees. All test booklets or other information are logged in and out and counted prior to SMEs leaving the room. The room is selected such that there is an attached restroom. For Board Examinations, all individuals involved wear a badge that identifies their position and, subsequently, their access to materials. The “patients” used are trained, simulated patients who are registered with the local medical complex as simulated patients. The camera personnel are not affiliated with the post graduate educational facilities and are trained for their positions by the professional videographer. Runners and proctors work under the supervision of the Test Director and handle materials that are sealed and initialed. All candidates must wear a badge with their candidate number and their signed picture so that no one may send in an alternative to the examination site. Candidate badges are distributed to the candidates at each registration period and retrieved at the conclusion of each examination period. Candidates are escorted to and from the restroom.
Physical security begins in the office of the Board and continues through the transit and administration of the examination materials. The double lock rule remains in effect throughout the entire life cycle of the examination. First, the office is locked and the windows into the test development room are blocked from the outside. Second, all test materials are maintained in a fireproof safe or file cabinet that is also locked with a factory installed lock. When in transit, all test materials, whether in electronic format or hard copy, are maintained in a double locked environment. The Test Development Director places all numbered copies of the assessment instrument into flexible file folders, seals the folder and initials the seal. Then, the sealed folders are placed in a trunk and padlocked closed. These trunks are then placed in the transport vehicle and it is locked for the duration of the journey. If an overnight stop is required, the trunks are moved into the sleeping quarters with the Test Development Director. When meal stops are required, the vehicle is parked where it can be viewed at all times by the Test Development Director. Upon arrival at the testing location, the trunks are unloaded into the Test Development Director’s room or into the Boardroom that has been specially keyed so that no one but the Test Development Director and the professional videographer have keys to the room. The reverse handling of examination materials occurs on the transit back to the office. All assessment instruments are again sealed and locked back into the trunks.
Additional physical security measures include the complete inspection of all assessment rooms for the presence of any notes, references or other mechanisms of cheating. This inspection includes restrooms, eating areas and waiting areas near the testing site. All holding areas are supervised by a proctor. Once the candidates have registered, they enter controlled areas to wait. They are searched for pens, electronic key attachments, cell phones, PDAs, and all other electronic devices. They may not take food or beverages into the testing room unless prior arrangements have been made according tot the Board’s ADA policy. If the individual is a diabetic, the food is left with the Test Administrator and only provided to the individual at a set time. Then, the wrapper is collected by the Test Administrator and scrutinized for cheat notes. For the written examination, the Test Administrator and at least two additional proctors assist with the administration of the examination. In this way, the room always has two proctors observing candidate behavior. If a proctor suspects a candidate of cheating, the Test Administrator sends for a Board member and the Board member intervenes in the situation. If it is determined that cheating did occur, the candidate immediately fails and is not permitted to take the examination again and this is properly documented. Security measures are updated as new security threats are recognized, especially through the NOCA workshops on security.
Electronic Security is maintained on all assessment instruments and the assessment development materials. All computers on the ACNB Network are protected by an 802.11n, 256 Password Encrypted Firewall. All network Passwords are alpha numeric and changed quarterly. Passwords and network access are only given to necessary personnel. Any and all sensitive electronic data is password protected, 128 encryption activated on all information. All data passwords are changed after each examination or at least once every 6 months. Electronic data passwords are only given to essential personnel when needed and changed when used for any presentation or testing procedures. All electronic password information are maintained by the systems administrator for networks and the test development team for testing material. Any sensitive information put onto a DVD or CD-RAM/ROM is password protected and then destroyed or archived after use to prevent security problems.
Physical Electronic Security
All sensitive information is double locked when not in use. The second lock
is a factory-installed lock on either a fire proof filing cabinet or safe.
Keys and combinations are given only to essential personnel. In order to
protect the examination from disaster or other such activities, a password
protected DVD of the entire examination resides in four secure geographic
locations in the United States: Texas, Pensylvania, Illinois and California.
These are the locations of the various members of the Board of Directors.
They maintain these electronic copies in double locked environments.
The Donath Group is the corporation that the ACNB uses for secure online item collection. All files are transferred from Donath Group to the ACNB through a secure file transfer protocol (ftp) format that is at a minimum of 128 bit encryption. Examination cases are posted on the secure, password protected website and questions with correct answers and detractors are then submitted to the website. Once a question is submitted, it is then hidden from view and accessible only through password protected ftp download.
Electronic security at the Board Examinations includes limited access to rooms where electronic equipment is utilized, 128 bit encryption of examination materials and password access to the examination materials only as needed to administer the video clips portion of the examination. All equipment is completely shut down between examination sessions and reopened with a new password at the next session. The doors to the examination rooms are locked and the personnel take shifts for lunch so that the hallway is always protected during the examination breaks. If the examination lasts until a second day, the electronic equipment is collected and locked in a case and taken to the Test Development Director for safe keeping and returned to the test site the next morning. The information is always maintained in the double locked environment.