Policy on Program Security
All exam materials are located in a secure database, which is maintained by a professional testing agency partnering with CFRE. Exams are delivered electronically at secure testing facilities, also maintained by a professional testing partner. All Candidate and Certificant information is maintained in a secure database, accessible only by CFRE staff. Once approved, candidate information is passed through a secure FTP server to the testing partner ensure that only approved candidates are authorized to take the exam. For more details on exam facility security, please see Appendix B Secure Testing Framework.
On a daily basis, exam results are passed back to CFRE through the same secure FTP server used to transfer candidate information.
On a yearly basis, the CFRE exam is reviewed and updated by the exam committee to avoid security threats from repeated use of examination materials. This process is closely monitored by appointed CFRE staff and the professional testing center, and all participants are required to sign confidentiality and conflict of interest forms.
Security against cheating is monitored by the professional testing agency in various ways. For information on exam facility security, please see Appendix B Secure Testing Framework. In addition, the psychometric team does perform standard item response time analysis to identify suspicious CBT behavior. For example, a candidate with high score and extreme low response time is evaluated. When extreme score and response time pattern is observed, other evidence such as video recording is examined for further investigation. Descriptive statistics of item response time is documented in the annual technical report. Decisions regarding removing exam items are then handled by the exam committee.
Should a breach of security occur, the President and CEO should be immediately notified, as well as the appropriate vendor. CFRE International shall ensure that all technology partners have a procedure in place in the case of such a breach.
