Cheaters: Inside the hidden world of IT certification fraud

The impact of certification fraud

Certification cheating has ramifications for everyone, including the individuals who pursue certification; the employers who hire them; the companies that contract for IT solutions and services; the IT vendors who manufacture and sell IT products and solutions; the certifying companies and agencies; and more broadly, the general public.

The individual who cheats is taking a risk with his career. If students are found to be cheating, they can face a range of consequences, such as negation of their test results; loss or denial of certifications; banishment from a certification program; or notification to his employer. Each certifying agency sets its own security policy which should be understood before a candidate undergoes the certification process.

Employers also suffer when individuals cheat on certification and are not truly qualified for a job. "If employers aren't getting quality work out of their employees, they are being defrauded," according to Taylor Ripley, chief security officer, CertGuard. "Employers need to know they are getting what they ask for."

Ripley says the companies that are most likely to suffer damage from certification fraud are the smaller size companies that don't have a Human Resources department to help weed out people who can't do a job. "These companies are forced to rely on certifications to judge a person's qualifications. A small company could lose money or business if an unqualified person screws up," Ripley says.