Cheating devices on the rise

Typing the search keywords "super small headphones", "disguised camera", "super small camera", "exam headphones"... on Google, e-commerce platforms or social network groups, we can easily find hundreds of products of all designs. Many sites even advertise these as products that help reduce the burden of exams, are compactly designed to help users hide them easily, are especially safe and communicate secretly when used, have an automatic answering feature, can be disguised by being clipped on the hair, hidden in a mask that is difficult for the person opposite to detect. The recording device is disguised by being attached to everyday items such as belts, glasses, buttons, jewelry, watches, rings, pens... so it is very difficult to detect. In addition to the introduction, these addresses also include detailed video instructions.

Check before entering the exam room. (Photo taken at Viet Duc High School - Hanoi)

The closer the high school graduation exam date gets, the more active the buying and selling of high-tech cheating devices becomes. However, to avoid the authorities, shop owners use sophisticated and roundabout tricks if they want to trade cheating devices. Transactions are usually not exchanged directly via Zalo calls but via text messages; payments are made using cash-on-delivery services rather than direct sales like normal products.

From a legal perspective, lawyer Dinh Thi Hong Trang (BH & Associates Law Firm LLC) commented: “Only businesses under the Ministry of National Defense and the Ministry of Public Security are allowed to trade in these devices. Furthermore, businesses must also have a certificate of eligibility for security and order issued by a competent authority. Therefore, the act of buying and selling these devices without permission is a violation of the law.”

Regarding this issue, Major General Le Minh Manh, Deputy Director of the Department of Cyber ​​Security and High-Tech Crime Prevention and Control, Ministry of Public Security said: "Currently, there are many groups selling exam cheating devices on cyberspace. In the coming time, the Ministry of Public Security will continue to verify, clarify and handle according to the provisions of the law. It can be seen that the risk of using listening, viewing, and remote broadcasting devices to cheat on exams still exists and is becoming increasingly sophisticated."

Monitor and control communication frequency in the exam area

2023 is the first year that the Ministry of Education and Training (MOET) has stipulated that candidates are not allowed to bring recording or video recording devices, even though they only have the function of recording information but cannot listen, watch, or transmit signals. To ensure exam safety, on the afternoon of June 27, before candidates completed the exam procedures, Mr. Nguyen Quang Huy, Vice Principal of Nguyen Van Cu High School, Head of the exam site at Viet Duc High School (Hanoi) shared: “We base on the Ministry's exam regulations to clearly identify the items candidates are allowed to bring into the exam room, the rest must be left outside, 25m away from the exam room. On the morning of June 27, when training exam invigilators, we also instructed on how to recognize signs of cheating from candidates, especially paying attention when candidates bring strange devices compared to other candidates such as larger pens, special glasses, letting their hair down in hot weather, or peeping...”.

Although experienced teachers can observe more psychological manifestations of students, according to a leader of the Department of Education Quality Management, Department of Education and Training of Bac Ninh province: "The most pressure for teachers who supervise exams is high-tech cheating in exams. Because this is something that is difficult to grasp, even though before the exam, the leaders of the exam sites, exam site secretaries, all teachers and staff at 44 bridge sites in Bac Ninh were trained twice on this issue. But technology is increasingly sophisticated, it is difficult for teachers to update everything, and teachers' main job is teaching, so it is very difficult to detect cheating."

Ms. Nguyen Thi Thuy, Director of the Department of Education and Training of Quang Ninh province, also said that one of the difficulties of the education sector is to check and detect modern transmitting and receiving devices that are not allowed to be brought into the examination room. To deal with this problem, Quang Ninh province has stepped up propaganda on the media. The Director of the Department of Education and Training of Quang Ninh province has also proposed: The Department of Information and Communications coordinates with the Regional Radio Frequency Center V to monitor and control communication frequencies in the examination area, promptly detecting suspicious communication frequencies of illegal BTS stations. The provincial police continue to implement the plan to ensure security and safety of the exam; direct the police force participating in the organization of the exam to regularly update the situation, instruct members of the examination site to check and review to promptly prevent the bringing of unauthorized items into the examination room and examination area; request the police force at the examination site to strictly implement the examination regulations; Arrange a permanent force to promptly handle situations related to the use of technological devices to reveal or leak exam questions.

Major General Le Minh Manh said that the Ministry of Public Security has developed and issued a plan to ensure security and safety for the 2023 High School Graduation Exam. This plan has been seriously implemented at the professional departments of the Ministry of Public Security as well as at the police of provinces and cities, key forces conducting the exam on experience, a number of professional measures to identify and detect high-tech devices. The Ministry of Education and Training also requires localities and testing sites to continue to strictly implement the regulations on having a separate area for candidates' personal belongings and belongings according to regulations, at least 25m away from the testing area. Consulting experts, we learned that the 25m solution is still the most suitable solution in the current situation. This solution comes from the incident in 2021, when the police discovered a case of cheating using high-tech devices with careful preparation, diverse equipment and sophisticated tricks. The subjects in this case left the devices outside the exam room door to connect through an intermediary device outside the door.

Article and photos: THANH VINH