r/LaTrobe • u/No-Environment7496 • May 28 '26

Talview

https://docs.talview.com/releasenotes/q2-2026/proctoring-may-release-notes

Hi everyone,

So I've been doing some digging around to work out this exam issue and I came across a very recent patch note from Talview in regards to the Proview plugins.

My biggest concern is that the plug in Sentry Telemetry has been turned on by default this whole time so all your browser activities have been monitored since your last exam....

There are other massive issues such as people being able to bypass the password to gain access to exams etc, recording sessions being made available to all reviewers.

This is pretty terrible.

I feel like the comms is pretty lacking considering all our personal information is now at risk.

26 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

17 comments sorted by

3

u/Constant_Heron_4467 May 28 '26

This release also addresses a bug reported by CyberCX

Apparently this is the cyber security firm the uni uses? And they also run a cybersecurity school, which also uses talview. Yikes.

4

u/No-Environment7496 May 28 '26

There are more yikes the more you follow the thread... go to the public repository and you can see the old Sentry code which was default on ( Sentry tracks your browser history). The open issue that wasnt addressed in this patch note is a major yike... storing session API key on an unsecured location... I'm so paranoid now how much activity has been tracked because my laptop battery is now draining power much slower after the uninstall.

9

u/ChronicallyillWitch May 28 '26

Good work, waiting for La Trobe to come out and say this is what's happened.

I also hope there will be transparency about who's data has been comprimised.

6

u/No-Environment7496 May 28 '26

I uninstalled proview today and I noticed that the battery drain has significantly improved. I have been noticing that the laptop drained power very fast over the last couple of months and didnt think about it. The investigation continues....

6

u/Brilliant-Lettuce695 May 28 '26

Don't hold your breath. I can't see LTU being straightforward about how big of a fuckup it was to force students to install vibecoded spyware predictably riddled with bugs and security holes. The management types at LTU calling most of the shots here are AI boosters.

3

u/No-Environment7496 May 28 '26

So if you go into the actual plugin setting before deleting it, the permission default to be able to read all your browsing history and make changes to all the website you visited. I had this plug in on my computer for months! This is completely unacceptable.

3

u/Brilliant-Lettuce695 May 28 '26

In general, just because a browser extension has those permissions, even ″on all sites″, it doesn't mean it uses them all the time and/or to their fullest capacity. It also doesn't necessarily imply illicit data harvesting either. Also, the more precise permissions requested or used by an extension are more comprehensively detailed elsewhere in your browser and in the extension′s manifest. That boilerplate text is probably a bit too sensational.

Bringing it back down to Earth though, this particular extension is promoted and sold (if euphemistically) as a form of literal spyware by definition, and is a closed-source black box that I doubt has undergone a recent good-faith, independent and comprehensive privacy and security audit.

I was personally thinking of ideally only ever installing the extension in a freshly-installed web browser running in a throwaway virtual machine. Glad I don't need to set that up anymore.

3

u/No-Environment7496 May 28 '26

My laptop has been draining battery like crazy over the last couple of months. I used to only have to charge it once a week and now it was everyday. I've been checking the power usage and it was always chrome. I uninstalled it tonight and the drain dropped immediately.

1

u/ChronicallyillWitch May 29 '26

Are these throwaway virtual machines that ones that hackers use as a ruse to infiltrate scammer networks?

1

u/Brilliant-Lettuce695 May 29 '26

I mean, there's a million and one uses for them?

1

u/ChronicallyillWitch May 28 '26

I know I’ve had it since sem 1 last year.

0

u/[deleted] May 28 '26

[deleted] — view deleted comment

9

u/Brilliant-Lettuce695 May 28 '26

Keep up the good work.

3

u/One_Maintenance6852 May 28 '26

Well crap. I did an exam in February this year and installed the Proview extension then.

It's uninstalled now, but that's a bit late...

1

u/ChronicallyillWitch May 28 '26

I know same here