Cheet-Sheets.com Owner Pleads Guilty; May Face Jail Time
8/27/2002 -- Oregon resident Robert R. Keppel, owner of the now-defunct braindump Web sites Cheet-Sheets.com and CheetSheets.com, pleaded guilty in federal court Friday to a charge of theft of trade secrets, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 1832(a)(2).
The charge resulted from allegations made by Microsoft that Keppel was selling questions and answers to Microsoft certification exams.
When he's sentenced on November 1, Keppel faces up to 10 years in prison and $250,000 in fines. He also forfeited a Lexus RX300, a 1997 Ferrari Spider and $56,000 in cash as part of a plea agreement. CertCities.com attempted to reach both Keppel and his attorney for comment, but did not receive a response before this story was posted online.
Assistant United States Attorney Annette Hayes, who prosecuted the case, said this is first application of the theft of trade secrets statute to procure a conviction within the realm of IT certification testing. In June, police in Bexar County, Texas seized the assets of TestKiller LTD and its owners citing the same felony charge, but criminal charges have not been filed in that case.
Previously, most "braindump" cases were pursued in civil court, citing copyright and trademark violations. "The [theft of trade secrets] statute is not that old... which is probably why there hasn't been many [criminal cases of this type]. But there's nothing unique about this case," said Hayes. "We picked this statute because it was the one that applied."
According to Microsoft, the case began when the company received allegations from customers that the content of Keen's CheetSheets contained live exam items. Microsoft made a criminal complaint to the Federal Bureau of Investigations during the summer of 2001, which turned the investigation over to its Computer Crimes Division.
In Sept. 2001, the FBI's Computer Crimes Division issued search warrants and seized the cash and cars listed above, as well as papers and other evidence. According to the government, this evidence showed that Keppel began selling the questions some time in 1999. He began buying exam questions from a source in Pakistan in January 2001, which he then incorporated into his test materials. (The government declined CertCities.com's request for the name of the Pakistan source.) Records from a NOVA credit card merchant account, opened by Keppel in July 2000, show that the business earned at least $753,633.03 while that account was active, the government said.
Hayes said that criminal charges were never filed in this case. When her office was given the case in late 2001, they initiated contact with Keppel, and eventually negotiated the guilty plea through Keppel's attorney. The government then filed a Statement of Information with the court on August 8, paving the way for Keppel to enter his plea on Friday.
Hayes told CertCities.com that her office will make sentencing recommendations in late October. According to Hayes, Keppel is currently out on "pre-trial" release.
"I think it's important to note that the government is pursuing these types of cases and we will continue to do so," said Hayes.
Word of the plea spread over the weekend after the Seattle Post-Intelligencer published a short news story online.
"I was ecstatic when I heard the news," said Craig Callaway, president of Self Test Software. "Yes, it's good for [test question] vendors like us, but this is really about the industry as a whole. There's got to be a concerted effort to protect the integrity of certification."
"[This plea] will raise awareness of this problem," said Robert Pedigo, executive director of the Information Technology Certification Security Council, an industry organization that works to preserve the integrity of IT certification exams. "It is probably fair to take this as a shot across the bow of anyone who is attempting to cheat."
Pedigo said that certification vendors are working on improving exam security through a variety of means, including tighter nondisclosure agreements, greater scrutiny of testing centers and legal action, but they are also looking to the certified community for help. "This is an active concern that every single person who holds a certificate should bear in mind. By becoming certified, one is a member of a professional group. And it's important that one defend the integrity of that group."
The owner of one braindump site who wished to remain anonymous told CertCities.com that the plea was not that big a concern. Unlike CheetSheets.com, which commercially packaged live exam items, the source explained that most braindump sites are free collections of thousands of questions submitted by end users. "There's a big difference between looking at 150 screenshots [of actual] questions and poring through a thousand questions -- you can't memorize a thousand questions," the source said. "I think the certification programs realize this."
Even so, the source added that this case may influence his/her site: "I'm thinking of moving away from actual questions and more toward study guides."  - B.N.
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There are 144  user Comments for “Cheet-Sheets.com Owner Pleads Guilty; May Face Jail Time”
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| 8/27/02: Ghandalf from Western MA says: |
I am an MCSE NT4. I spent thousands of hours, and my hard earned money to get this certification. WHY? Microsnot turns around and says "By the way, you will no longer be certified after this point", are they doing it to make me a better technician, or are they doing it to force me to learn Win 2000, or XP? Or, maybe, they are just doing it to suck another $700 out of my pocket on exams. Some companies pay for certification test........but very few do pay. When they first came out with the Win 2000 tests.........they were rediculously easy. Then, they came down hard, changing the tests to make them damn near impossible. I guess they werent getting thier money's worth out of us poor saps supporting Microsnot products. I study my ass off and spend tons of money, but, if I fail the exam.......they want another $100 to retest. So if someone offers me the chance to learn more about the test, and it's trick questions.........at that point, who is stealing from who? Sure it's wrong to do this. But which is the lesser evil? Microsnot(which is worth billions upon billions) bilking me for a $100 a whack for a test full of trick questions...........or some guy helping me understand those questions? You are lucky if a THIRD of the questions on these exams actually pertain to real life situations and solutions. I look at it as another money making scam Mr Gates has come up with. Think about it.............he makes billions on the product.......then charges you billions to prove you can support it...........and makes even MORE money by charging you over $600 for Technet............which is something that should come as STANDARD equipment with the product. What it all boils down to is $$$! How much money is enough Bill? |
| 8/27/02: Anonymous says: |
You have to be a "Participant" Not a "Spectator" We need Good Scenarios and Explainations for why an answer to a question is correct, then maybe, maybe we can implement what Microsoft exams test you on. We never get to see why we got the answer wrong, What good is a test when your not provided with the coaching of why you got it WRONG!! The IT world is becoming more and more competitive and as far as my experience goes, is very little coaching or sharing knowledge. So why don't we practice being "Professionals"? ... Give exams, but also provide us some guidance along the way... |
| 8/27/02: Bozo D. Clown from Clownsville, OH says: |
Hey, I think all these guys above are dead on (all but the BS'n jackwipe that says he's an expert and that he never cheats... Probably the biggest cheat on the page). I say Micro$oft needs to spend more time on fixing their buggy code and stop grasping for a little respect from the REAL IT world. You guys had your 15 mins of respect, it's time for some other company to figure out what the nimrod CEO crooks running big companies today will be required to pay for experienced IT staff and consultants! Hey BTW, does anyone know where I can get some braindumps for a masters degree in computer science? |
| 8/27/02: Anonymous says: |
The reality is Microsoft (indirectly) condoned the operation of these sites/services. I attended 4 classes at two different Microsoft training centers (4 instructors - all MCT certified). All encouraged attendees to use the services like Test-Killer - in one case, the training center bought a license to distribute copies to all attendees of their boot camps. And according to one Microsoft employee, internally Microsoft originally freaked about Transcender (you could be fired if you had a copy)...they later relented and it was supposedly common-place for Microsoft's own employees to use the "marginal" exam prep tools. Anywhere you pressure your employees to take a test to prove something, you're going to find them taking the easiest route to the end result. For a lot of reasons, I feel all my MS certs are virtually useless and I am not sure I will take any MS exams in the future. |
| 8/27/02: Mickey Moose from L.A. California says: |
Microsht of all companies shouldn't be crying about this one. Sorry, but they have made millions testing people, and I doubt they really care how much a paper MCSE knows or doesn't. The whole reason for the law suit is money. Isn't that what makes the busness world go round? I don't really care if someone broke the law on this anyway. So what? Not every law broken is the same is it? So the ones crying about this is a law that was broken, WAHHHH. So what! There's a lot of us that think there are not only too many stupid laws, but also too many stupid lawyers, screwing up a lot of our lives. |
| 8/27/02: Real MCSA, MCSE, MCDBA, CCA, A+, Net+, CCNA from Los Angeles says: |
How come only MS exams get this flack? Probably because they don't offer enough REAL WORLD scenarios and relevant simulations like, say Cisco, or other companies offer. I have to admit that the MCSE 2000 track was pretty easy for me because I have real world experience with DDNS, AD, BIND DNS (Unix), GCS, operations role masters, etc... However, the MCDBA & Sun Java Architect courses are more difficult because memorizing brain dump moron won't be able prove ANY type of knowledge even if (s)he is lucky enough to guess or cheat their way through an exam. To know the difference between bigint, int, select, and other commands require REAL studying, dedication, and experience that can't be sold or downloaded off the internet. I agree with Bozo D. Clown. Does anyone have a braindump for a CCIE and a REAL 4-year college degree. puhahahahaahhaha....morons!!! |
| 8/27/02: Anonymous says: |
This is good news! I hope they do the same with TestKing.com, MCSEBraindumps.com and BraindumpCentral among others. Also, don't forget training centers and testing centers that promote this. Although sometimes I think that Micro$oft did this on purpose. I agree with MCSE2000 from Utah. |
| 8/27/02: Kevin Jones from Washington DC says: |
The whole certification question is a double edge sword. Is being or getting certified in IT any different than getting a college degree in some other profession? Microsoft keeps the number of people certified to a small number of people and makes everyone believe that this some how keeps the quality of certification up. I believe that people should be incouraged to get whatever education degree that they wish to presue. No one ever says that there are to many docotors, lawyers or what not. No one ever says, that if we have two million doctors, teachers, etc that will make getting the degree whorthless. Why, in the IT field are we made to believe that having too many MCSE'S, MCSA'S, MCSD'S is a very bad thing? Are you going to tell me that there is no such thing as cheating to get a degree? I have spent the last year and more of my life trying to get my MCSA and MCSE certification which I have now done. I studied hard and long to pass those exams and spent a lot of money to take those exams. I am proud to say that I have passed those exams that is one mountain climbed. Now, I have the other one which is to get a job in the IT field. So, now I get to hear that I am only a paper MCSA or MSCE. Which I find unfair because I have studyied and I believe that I deserve the chance to prove myself. No, test ever prepares you for the real world that you are going to have to face once you are in it. Experience and knowledge go hand in hand reading a book and applying what you a have studied is the only way that all human being learn. Learning computers and networks is no different then learining any other profession or trade. You can believe if you will that all the CEO'S of corporations get there on shear intellegence if you wish. However, you are only living a fool's pardise. My point is Microsoft goes after these people there will be others. One final, question should we get rid of Kaplan? Does not Kaplan prepares a person to take the various college entry exams using testing very simular to the actual college exams. If you are going to have fair and honest testing then open up the field to all who wish to persue IT and incourage them to learn by studying an appling their knowledge in the real world not some fake one. Make the testing hard and challenging and accessbile to all who what to presue it. Every last person who has a Microsoft certification did so as the way of making a higher salary. Every one who every know anything about a computer does so by experience and reading a book. There is no other any why that any human being learns a profession including IT. |
| 8/27/02: Anonymous says: |
Hey, how do you think somebody goes to a '5 day boot camp' and walks out with MCSE? I knew a guy who did that, and his company even paid for it. There is no way he did this unless he was taught the test. I took 168 hrs of classroom on both NT and 2K, work with it every day, and still these tests have been ridiculous. They build in mis-direction and they word questions in ways worthy of a team of lawyers. I can't say that braindumps are any more noble, but I believe the operator hits upon one of the problems with the current cert exams: the question pool is much too small. Any test prep, be it Exam Cram or one of the on-line practice exams is the same in purpose: they 'prepare' you for a test in the flavor of Microsoft by giving you information 'close' to the actual tests. Transcender gets a wink and a nod, all the while their software has this "get an edge" cache about it. And that's exactly what it is: a chance to cut a corner or two. We all know that Transcender's NTWS and Server products were so close to the question pool that and numbskull could pound it for a week or two and pass. I think they were on the right track with the IIS 4 exam which was a replica console and you had to perform certain operations in the proper order. it very close to real world situations - but none of the W2K tests has it. Isn't that what our employers want - someone who can operate the software in the best way possible? I don't know about you guys, but I've never been asked to plan a multi-domain network, but I am expected to know how to build a server and put it back on the network. |
| 8/27/02: Person Man from Utah says: |
I am also of the opinion too little too late. Microsoft certs at this point are next to worthless and it will take a long time and a lot of effort to get them back to a meaninful status. Unfortunately, I think now that people and training companies realize that, they are now targeting other certifications like the CCNA. It seems like a vicous cycle: a certification nets you a better salary; training companies flood the industry with that certification; the certification becomes worthless. I feel the CCNA is already going that direction and I'm sure more will follow. |
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