14 DAY TRIAL // Microsoft is actively working to identify any fraudulent activities related to its Certification Program, and to shut them down.
At this point in time there are in excess of 6 million Microsoft Certified Professionals (MCPs) worldwide, all counting on the fact that the certifications they earned will represent a consistent advantage in terms of finding new jobs, keeping existing one, or advancing their careers.
It’s easy to see why the Redmond company considers it critical to ensure the absolute integrity of its Certification Program, as Don Field, senior director of Certification and Training for Microsoft notes.
“We have a world-class, full-time investigative team that actively pursues fraudulent activities. It carefully monitors test-center processes and scours mountains of data to uncover fraudulent exams, altered test transcripts and test sites with bad business practices,” revealed Field.
“Every falsely earned certification damages the value of Microsoft credentials, causing collateral damage to the millions of MCPs. This is why we take vigorous measures to expose and disqualify those who would come by these certifications dishonestly or help others to do so.”
The software giant has proven that when necessary it’s ready to fight in order to protect its Certification Program.
Microsoft recently won a lawsuit against a Web enterprise designed to offer both test questions and answers to those looking for a “shortcut.” The illegal resources were available under several “testinside” domain names, the company said.
The software giant was awarded no less than $13.5 million in the case, and reveals that it will continue fighting “brain dumps,” illegal sharing of test questions.
“To date, we have been able to shut down thousands of links to these sites due to our aggressive efforts to combat brain dumps. We’ve also banned candidates from taking our exams who are found to have used such a site to gain an advantage,” Field added.
“The $13.5 million decision against the “testinside” domain names broke new legal ground in terms of the size and scope of judgments against these brain-dump sites. By awarding the maximum statutory damage allowable under the Copyright Act, the court validated the significance of this type of fraud for both Microsoft and the certification industry.”