ABSTRACT
Research in the area of detecting test security risks has primarily concentrated on test security threats posed by individual test takers. 1 This is a serious oversight because group-based security risks have the greatest potential for compromising an entire testing program. For example in July 2011, a special investigation by the State of Georgia concluded that “thousands of school children were harmed by widespread cheating in the Atlanta Public School System” and “identified 178 educators within Atlanta Public Schools as being involved in cheating” (Bowers, Wilson, & Hyde, 2011). But group-based security risks in areas other than public education can be equally pernicious and damaging to a testing program. As an example, the Boston Globe reported in July 2008 that the Cisco Certification Program had confirmed proxy test-taking activity affecting the certifications of thousands of people world-wide (Baron & Wirzbicki, 2008). What was not stated in the article was the fact that the proxy test takers were employed by just a few global organizations or “companies” that specialize in compromising exam security (Maynes, 2009a).
