How to check an interview integrity tool before you install it
Seven checks for any app that watches an interview session, and how five vendors' public pages answer them as of 29 September 2026. Written by Vettasy.
Seven checks tell a careful interview integrity tool from spyware: it runs only during the session, publishes what it never collects, records facts instead of feeds, keeps data you can find and delete, asks for consent and gives the candidate the same report, has outside audits, and keeps its scope narrow. Read the consent terms, not only the product page. Vettasy is one of the tools compared, and the Vettasy team wrote this article.
This article is written by the Vettasy team. Vettasy is one of the tools compared below.
Remote interviews rested on an assumption that no longer holds: that the candidate answers on their own. AI copilots turned the call into an open-book exam the interviewer cannot see, and they say so openly: Cluely advertises itself as "Invisible to screen share".
A category of interview integrity tools appeared in response: apps that run during the session and look for signs of outside help. For engineers, the uncomfortable part is that the cure looks a lot like the disease. Monitoring software on a candidate's machine is exactly what engineers are right to distrust. The market has already decided that these tools will exist. The useful question is how to tell a careful one from spyware before you install it.
Below are seven checks, and how the public pages of five tools answer them as of 29 September 2026. One lesson came out of the research itself: read the consent terms and the privacy policy, not only the product page. They do not always say the same thing.
Seven checks
1. It runs only during the session
The app works only during the interview: no background service, no autostart, no administrator rights, and it can be removed afterwards. Silence on a vendor's pages means unknown, not no. Honorlock, which is a Chrome extension, says it "is only active and recording information when an exam is in progress", with a visual indicator while it runs. Vettasy says the app "runs no background process and can be deleted once the interview is over". InterviewGuard's privacy policy says the opposite for its agent: "The Service may run in the background when not in use in order to provide automatic updates or to upload any previous sessions".
2. A published list of what it never collects
A careful tool is specific about what it never touches, and the list holds everywhere the vendor describes the product. ScreenComply writes "No keystroke logging. No screen recording. No personal file access.", while the same page lists keystroke dynamics among its signals. CheqMate's security page says "No interview audio or video stored". InterviewGuard's product page says "We don't capture screen content, keystrokes, or what was typed into any tool", but its Consent to Monitoring lists access during the session to "your entire desktop environment, including screen content and active applications" and to "your files and folders stored locally or in cloud-synced directories". Vettasy lists what it never reads: emotions, facial expressions and tone of voice, the screen outside the app, files, keystrokes outside the app, and browser history.
3. Facts, not feeds
Recording that a second monitor is connected is acceptable. Reading what is on it is not. This is the main dividing line. CheqMate "tracks eye movement and matches faces live" and analyzes speech cadence, keystroke rhythm and mouse patterns. ScreenComply tracks "face position, eye gaze, and head orientation" in real time. Honorlock's extension can "capture the content of the user screen", and its hiring product scans the candidate's workspace. Vettasy reduces what it sees to facts with a level, such as "Second monitor: Note" or "Known AI copilot processes: No signal", and does not analyze emotions or tone. The more a tool mines biometrics and mood, the closer it is to surveillance.
4. Data you can find and delete
Where the data is stored, how it is encrypted, how long it is kept, how it is deleted, and whether it trains models. Most vendors publish part of this.
- ScreenComply: "EU and US data residency options", "Encryption at rest and in transit", and a read-only mode where signals are "discarded immediately after the session".
- CheqMate: storage in the "US, EU, APAC", "AES-256 encryption at rest", "TLS 1.3 for all data in transit" and "Right to deletion support".
- InterviewGuard: storage "only within the United States", AES-256 at rest, TLS in transit, and deletion on request.
- Honorlock: storage in the United States on AWS, encryption in transit and at rest, and retention set in each customer's contract.
- Vettasy: storage in Germany (Hetzner, Nuremberg and Falkenstein), AES-256 at rest and TLS 1.3 in transit, recordings kept 7 to 90 days as set by the employer, deletion within 30 days with backups included, and no training on customer data.
5. Consent and symmetry
Explicit consent on screen, and rights for the person being checked: ideally their own copy of the report and a way to dispute it. This is the rarest one. InterviewGuard informs candidates that "their environment will be monitored for integrity" and asks for consent. Honorlock's test-taker notice treats taking the session as agreement to be recorded on video and audio. In Vettasy nothing is recorded until the candidate agrees, both sides receive the recording, the transcript and the same session report, and any line can be disputed within 14 days. We did not find a candidate copy of the report or a dispute process on the other vendors' pages.
6. Outside verification
Independent audits and a penetration test, and honesty about what is done and what is only planned. Honorlock has a SOC 2 Type 2 report and runs monthly penetration tests. CheqMate runs annual third-party penetration tests and describes itself as in "SOC 2 Type II readiness". ScreenComply says its "SOC 2 Type 1 and Type 2 examinations" are "in progress". Vettasy has a SOC 2 Type II report from Schellman, with an observation period from 13 March to 19 August 2026, available under NDA. On penetration testing Vettasy is behind Honorlock and CheqMate: its first independent test is scheduled for the fourth quarter of 2026. A report under NDA is not the same as a public one: ask for it before you trust the badge.
7. A narrow scope
A good tool keeps what it observes narrow and does not spread to the whole desktop for context. The wide end of the range is visible in the public pages: Honorlock's hiring product scans the workspace, offers a second camera, detects Apple devices nearby and listens for voice assistant phrases such as "Hey Siri" and "OK Google"; InterviewGuard's consent terms cover the entire desktop and local and cloud-synced files. The wider the capture, the less it is about interview integrity and the more it is about surveillance.
How public pages answer
| Check | ScreenComply | InterviewGuard | CheqMate | Honorlock | Vettasy |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Only during the session | Not found | No: may run in the background | Not found | Yes: extension active during the session | Yes |
| 2. Never-collect list | Partly: keystroke dynamics are a signal | Conflicting: consent covers screen and files | Partly: no audio or video stored | Not found | Yes |
| 3. Facts, not feeds | No: face, gaze, head position | No: desktop, screen, files, webcam | No: gaze, face, speech cadence | No: screen, workspace, audio | Yes |
| 4. Storage, encryption, deletion | Yes: EU or US, encryption, zero-retention mode | Partly: US, encryption, deletion on request | Yes: US, EU or APAC, encryption, deletion | Partly: US, encryption, retention by contract | Yes: Germany, encryption, 7 to 90 days, deletion in 30 days |
| 5. Consent and candidate rights | Not found | Partly: notice and consent | Not found | Partly: consent to recording | Yes: two consents, same report, 14-day dispute |
| 6. Outside verification | SOC 2 in progress | Not found | Annual pen test, SOC 2 readiness | SOC 2 Type 2, monthly pen tests | SOC 2 Type II under NDA, pen test Q4 2026 |
"Not found" means we did not find it on the pages listed below, not that the tool does it or does not do it. Check 7 is a judgment about the whole product, so it stays out of the table. Every cell comes from the vendors' public pages as they read on 29 September 2026; if a vendor publishes more, we will update the table. Judge the Vettasy column as strictly as the others: we wrote it.
Before you install
AI did not end the technical interview, but it ended the time when you could ignore what runs during one. Before you install anything that watches a session, put the seven checks above to it, and read its consent terms. Good tools welcome the questions, and a vendor's readiness to be checked is the strongest signal you will get. That includes us: the Vettasy answers are on the Trust center.
Sources
- ScreenComply, product page.
- InterviewGuard, AI detection, Consent to Monitoring and Privacy Policy.
- CheqMate, home page, Security and Privacy Policy.
- Honorlock, Remote hiring, Voice detection, Security overview, Exam taker privacy notice and SOC 2 Type 2 announcement.
- Vettasy, Trust center and Verified Session.
Written by the Vettasy teamVettasy is a desktop application for job interviews. Employers run structured, recorded interviews in it with verified participants. It is free for candidates. Windows and macOS.
