Introducing Real-Time Alerts for Interview Cheating

By Vaibhav Devere, Founder, Zero Assist · 2025-02-20 · 3 min read

What We Shipped

Today we are launching real-time alert delivery in the Zero Assist interviewer dashboard. Previously, alerts were delivered on a 15-second polling interval — fast enough to catch most issues, but not fast enough to catch a tool that was opened and closed quickly.

With today's update, alerts are pushed to the dashboard via WebSocket the moment the agent detects a flagged process. The latency from process start to dashboard notification is now under 500ms in typical network conditions.

What You Will See

When an alert fires, the dashboard shows:

  • The process name and its risk category (High / Medium / Low)
  • A timestamp accurate to the second
  • A badge counter on the session card that persists until you view the session detail

High-severity alerts (tools like Parakeet AI, Cluely, Final Round AI) also trigger a brief audio chime so the interviewer does not need to be watching the screen constantly.

How to Enable Audio Alerts

Audio alerts are off by default. To enable them:

  1. Open the Zero Assist dashboard
  2. Click your account name in the sidebar
  3. Toggle "Audio alerts for high-severity events" to on

You will be prompted to allow audio permissions in your browser the first time.

What Has Not Changed

The agent's footprint on the candidate's machine is unchanged — it is still a single lightweight binary with no persistent installation. It starts when the candidate launches it, monitors during the session, and exits cleanly when the session ends.

If you have any questions or feedback on the new alert system, use the feedback button in the dashboard or email support@zeroassist.in.