Leaked Questions Indicator

Overview 

If you search a question from the HackerRank library on the Internet, and if it appears on the search results, matching structurally and semantically with the HackerRank library question, then it is termed as a leaked question. To help you identify these questions, we have a feature called the leaked questions indicator inside the library.   

How do we find leaked questions?

When a question from the question library is checked for a 'leak,' a HackerRank for Work tool performs an automated web search to find and match the problem statement with any similar content available on the web. String matching algorithms are used to identify matching terms, and the tool then returns a list of websites where it found parts of the statement with a percentage match.

The steps below illustrate how leaked questions are marked in our library and how they can be remediated.

Note: If you find any matching link to any of our library questions, you can also report it to us. Click here to know more about how to report a question as leaked from UI.

Leaked Questions Indicator in Library

1. On logging into your HackerRank for Work account, click on the Library tab on the home page to view the list of questions available in the HackerRank library and your company questions.
2. A 'leaked' question will have a 'red triangle' icon displayed next to it, and clicking on the icon displays the sources on the internet where content similar to the problem statement is available.
3. As mentioned, the tool matches similar words, and the matched text is displayed in bold when you view the sources where the question is available on the internet.
4. The UI shows the different sources from the internet where the Question is possibly available.
5. If you wish to hide all the leaked questions from the question library, you can simply mark a checkbox to achieve the same.

Leaked Question Indicator in Tests

1. The same functionality is also available at a 'test' level. You can see if any question(s) present in a test are leaked, as shown below.

Replace Question Functionality

If a question in your existing test is showing the leaked mark then you can replace it with a new question with the Replace question functionality. The workflow is explained below. 

• Click on the Leaked Question Indicator that shows up beside the question name.
• On the following screen, you can see the source where the question is leaked. If you want to replace that question click on the Replace Question button placed at the bottom.
• You are now redirected to the HackerRank Library page. The replace question functionality automatically places the filters such as skills, question type, difficulty level, recommended time, and score.  You can select the question and click on Replace button.
• On the following screen, you can see the comparison between the existing leaked question and the new question that is going to replace it. Click on Confirm to replace the question in your test.
• Once you replace the question, the test will be moved to draft mode. You must publish it again in order to use it. 

Handling Leaked Questions

When you see that a library question is leaked, we recommend that you do not immediately remove the leaked question - especially if/when there are tests currently in progress - but instead follow change management best practices.

Here are some things you can do when you encounter a leaked question:

1. If you find a leaked question in the library or at the time of test creation, we recommend you 'Hide Leaked Questions' and use unleaked questions in tests.
2. If an existing test has a question that is marked as leaked, you could:
   • Remove the said question from the test or replace it with a similar unleaked question using the Replace Question functionality. 
   • If the test is in progress, you can use your discretion to monitor the plagiarism checker for said question more efficiently. Read about plagiarism detection here. You can also reach out to us at support@hackerrank.com for troubleshooting.
   • If you find that a completed test had a leaked question, you can choose to disregard the question while tabulating scores from the candidate attempts.
   • You can also consider modifying the problem statement (since that's mostly what our tool matches similar content for) such that it's not extremely generic or easily available on the internet.

Note: The tool highlights whether or not a question is leaked and checks for leaked content approximately once every month. As described above, the results are almost perfectly accurate, and we employ due diligence while dealing with 'leaked' content. We advise you to do the same based on the nature of the question(s).