A Multifactor Authentication Framework for Usability in Education Sectors in Uganda

The reduction of academic dishonesty in e-assessment has been mentioned as a necessity for improved security, which can be achieved by implementing multifactor authentication. In e-assessment, learner authentication is a challenge that has grown significantly in importance. In order to counteract impersonation, the three authentication factors were coupled together to increase security in e-assessment were: biometric (facial recognition) and knowledge-based features (user name, password, and security questions generated from user profile). Data collection and analysis techniques used were; hybrid (qualitative and quantitative). The design science technique was used because it entails a systematic process of design, development, and evaluation. A methodical approach was used to create and build the Multifactor Authentication Framework. The framework's effectiveness at preventing identity fraud and ensuring the security of e-assessments was then evaluated in a simulated environment. Results show that; username and password was preferred because of effectiveness, takes a shorter time to login (72.1%), easy to use (73.4%), and is efficient thus gives accurate authentication results(79.6%); while the majority 77.8% of the respondents agreed that biometrics such as; fingerprints were easy to use, efficient to use (66.7%) thus giving accurate results and effective (66.7) requires a shorter time to login. By increasing the security factors of biometrics in e-assessment, the proposed multifactor authentication framework (E-MuAF) continually watches learners as they are being assessed while ensuring there is no impersonation. This paper proposes a Multifactor Authentication Framework in order to upgrade from single-factor to three-factor authentication systems. This framework strengthens authentication security in e-assessment where necessary.