Cheating on IT Exams May Cast Doubt on Their Value

Thieves, 'gunmen' look to profit from stolen technology certification tests


April 30, 2007 (Computerworld) -- The FAQ page of a China-based Web site promises to help its customers get IT certifications “with your least effort.” On the right side of the page, a shaded box makes an even more direct pitch: “Order our gunman service and you will pass. Obtain your certications [sic] at home without testing by yourself.”

The site and others like it are examples of an IT certification exam piracy market that is operating in plain sight. People looking to cheat on exams can obtain copies of them or simply offshore the work to so-called gunmen, who operate mostly in Asia and will take tests for clients at a cost of up to several thousand dollars.

The activities of exam thieves are creating problems for technology vendors and for the tens of thousands of IT workers and students who legitimately take the tests each year and don't want to see their certifications devalued by cheaters.

Many vendors are already being affected by organized efforts to steal their exams. Late last year, the Association of Test Publishers in Washington surveyed 77 companies, about 60 of which are high-tech vendors. About half reported that their exams were available for sale on the Internet. And 75% said they had encountered cheating on exams.

Gene Radwin, who manages development of certification exams at EMC Corp. and was involved in conducting the survey, said the storage and security vendor has found some of its certification exams for sale online. The tests being offered were out of date, Radwin said. But he added that attempts to steal exams haven’t been curtailed by any means.

“There is a concerted effort to identify the content of IT certification exams,” Radwin said. “It’s an ongoing frustration for all of us.”

Vendors say they are doing more to boost the security of their testing processes. Measures that some vendors have already taken include continually expanding the pool of test questions they ask and using forensics to identify anomalous results, such as if a user answers easy questions incorrectly but gets difficult ones right.

But the problem is being eyed with dismay by Brian Young, CIO at Creighton University in Omaha. IT vendors “need to learn from their higher education counterparts and clean up their act,” he said.

Young said he has heard from his own employees about the availability of IT certification test questions on the Internet. He doesn’t discourage workers from seeking certifications or looking for opportunities to get more training, and he may even ask them to share what they have learned with the rest of Creighton’s IT staff.

But Young doesn’t rely on a certification as proof of expertise in a particular technology. For instance, he said that if he is hiring someone for a networking job, he may ask the candidate to configure some routers or switches as part of the assessment process.

The motives for cheating on exams are easy to understand. IT job ads often list specific certification requirements, and promotions may hinge on certifications as well. No one interviewed by Computerworld could say how many people cheat to get certifications, but it is easy to find sources selling “study guides” or “practice tests” that may be based on stolen test questions.