Compare · Lockdown & scanners

Capifiq vs lockdown browsers and process scanners.

Lockdown browsers restrict what a candidate can do in the tab; process scanners match running software against a catalog of known cheating tools. Both are useful, and both share a blind spot the newest tools are built to exploit. Here's the difference.

What they do

Restrict the tab, or match a list.

Lockdown browsers — the kind used in academic proctoring — stop tab-switching, copy-paste, and other actions inside the browser. Process scanners take a different tack: they inspect names, signatures, or window titles and compare them to a catalog of known cheating tools.

Both approaches are legitimate and can raise the bar. But both live at a level the newest tools were engineered to slip past.

These tools have their place. Lockdown is reasonable for supervised exams, and a denylist catches the obvious. Capifiq isn't a dig at them — it covers the layer and the tools they can't.

The gap

Where restriction and lists fall short.

Today's AI-assist tools are native, renamed, and often off-device entirely — exactly what a browser lock and a catalog can't reach.

Blind to native apps

A lockdown browser lives inside the tab. It has no window into native desktop applications or the wider system where modern overlays run.

A step behind by list

A scanner only knows catalogued tools. A renamed executable or a brand-new build simply isn't on the list yet.

Restrictive, and still off-device-blind

Locking the browser frustrates honest candidates and still can't see a phone, an earpiece, or a person off-camera.

What Capifiq adds

  • Direct verification of the interview environment
  • Deterministic, timestamped, sealed evidence — not a score
  • Coverage that isn't limited to a catalogued list of tools
  • Detect any on-device assistance; deter off-device help

The difference

Verify the environment, don't just restrict it.

Capifiq runs as a companion agent that verifies the interview environment — including the native desktop layer a browser lock can't reach — without locking anything down. Coverage is tool-agnostic, so it isn't defeated by a rename or a new build.

And because integrity has an off-device half, Capifiq pairs detection with interviewing methodology to deter the help no software can catch. Every finding is deterministic, timestamped, and sealed.

Side by side

Lockdown & scanners vs Capifiq.

Lockdown browsers & scanners

  • Restrict the browser or match a known-tool list
  • Blind to native desktop applications
  • Renamed or brand-new tools can evade the list
  • A lockdown restricts the honest candidate too
  • Can't reach off-device help at all

Capifiq

  • Verifies the interview environment as a companion
  • Sees the native layer a browser lock can't
  • Coverage isn't defeated by rename or a new build
  • No lockdown — an integrity check, not a restriction
  • Detects any on-device assistance and deters off-device help

Different layer, different job. A lockdown or a denylist handles the obvious; Capifiq verifies the environment those tools can't see, and adds the off-device deterrence neither reaches.

Questions

Common questions.

Does Capifiq lock down the candidate's browser or machine?
No. Capifiq is an integrity check, not a lockdown. It never blocks, terminates, or restricts anything on the candidate's machine; it verifies and reports.
Does it just match a list of known tools?
No — that's the denylist approach it improves on. Capifiq verifies the environment, so coverage isn't limited to catalogued tools. See Why Capifiq.
Can a process scanner catch renamed or new tools?
Often not — a scanner must first know the indicator to search for. Capifiq's coverage does not depend on the tool being catalogued first.
What about help that never touches the device?
No lockdown or scanner can see it. Capifiq deters off-device help with interviewing methodology.

Get started

Cover the layer a lockdown can't reach.

Run Capifiq alongside the interviews you already do, and compare the evidence for yourself.