Software Pirates, Beware!
Antipiracy Manager Spurs National Criminal Investigations
Late at night, light seeps out from under one door in an otherwise empty building on the Microsoft campus in Redmond, Washington. Dave Swartzendruber runs his hand over his bleary eyes, reaches for his cup of coffee, and returns to the computer screen.
No, Swartzendruber isn't a programmer madly working on the release of the latest Microsoft Xbox game. He's the Antipiracy Manager for the Content Development and Delivery Group, Information Technology (IT) and Operations, and he's hot on the trail of another illegal distributor of certification exam content.
Illegal distribution of test content
It's not exactly NYPD Blue material, but Swartzendruber's job is to find people who steal and illegally distribute Microsoft-copyrighted test content, and help bring them to justice. He primarily supports the Microsoft Training and Certification teams.
Plenty of people are making money off of desperate IT professionals who need to pass Microsoft certification exams. Much of the illegal activity consists of selling test content (and the answers, though not always the right ones) to IT pros who use them to cram for the exams. These distributors are violating copyright and trade secret laws—and they are all over the Internet, including eBay.
Swartzendruber also keeps an eye out for "brain dump" sites. People go to these sites after they've taken the test and dump out all the test information that they can remember. Then those preparing for that test can go to that site to read the information. Usually, the same people that give information about a particular test will download brain dumps for other examinations that they will need to take for their certification. The problem is that, before people take any certification test, they must agree to Microsoft's nondisclosure agreement (NDA), which states that they will not share any part of the exam for any reason. Therefore, posting information on brain dump sites constitutes a violation of the NDA. And depending on how exact the verbiage is that's being dumped, it could be a trade secret violation.
Other places that distribute pirated exam material include a few training centers that sell "additional test material," which is nothing more than illegally obtained exam questions and answers. Swartzendruber also pursues individuals who will take exams for others.
Devaluing the integrity of the certifications
How do these unscrupulous people running scams affect the IT professional community?
Taking and passing the certification exams involves a substantial investment of time, effort, and money. The certification process is difficult for a reason: It ensures that those with a Microsoft certification have a level of expertise that allows them to capably manage and administer Microsoft systems. And once they have a Microsoft certification, they are highly marketable.
The people who distribute pirated materials circumvent this system, enabling unqualified people to become certified. "When this happens, the integrity of the certification program is weakened," says Swartzendruber. Companies may hire someone who illegally obtained a certification, only to find that the person has no idea how to run the system that needs to be managed. This can make the companies blame the software or be suspicious of the next person who comes along claiming to be Microsoft certified.
Antipiracy strategy
To combat piracy, Microsoft has developed a strategy of enforcement, engineering, and education. Swartzendruber is focusing on enforcement right now: finding and pursuing those who break the law. Engineering entails the refinement of the test development process to make it more difficult to pirate the content. Education is the outreach effort that Microsoft will develop to inform potential certification candidates about what kind of test preparation material is legal and what is not.
Well qualified to take the lead on the enforcement of Microsoft's antipiracy policy, Swartzendruber comes to this position with 23 years of experience in law enforcement—working part of that time with the San Diego Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) task force in California as a financial investigator. In 1994, he was hired as the first piracy investigator ever hired by Microsoft and then moved to Information Security at Microsoft where he ran the computer forensics lab. In March 2001, Microsoft created the antipiracy management position in an effort to step up its crackdown on test-content piracy and offered the position to Swartzendruber.
With all that experience, it's evident that Swartzendruber means it when he says, "It's not a matter of if we get these people who are breaking the law—it's a matter of when. It might take some time, but we will get them. We now have the resources we need to aggressively pursue those involved in piracy work."
Working with law enforcement
The process of finding these lawbreakers usually begins when Swartzendruber is tipped off by one of several sources such as law enforcement, the IT community, or Microsoft employees. Most often, Swartzendruber relies on information that is sent to an alias specifically set up for the reporting of suspicious activity: tctips@microsoft.com. "I welcome any tips on that alias," he says, though he warns that he gets so many messages that he can't always respond personally to each one.
Explains Swartzendruber, "We put the information that we receive into a database, and, if we go after specific people or organizations, we'll go back to each one of the complaints we received about them. Then I'll contact some of the people who sent the tips." For this reason, he stresses that it's important to include some contact information when sending tips.
When Swartzendruber receives a tip that he wants to pursue, he first consults Microsoft's piracy lawyers. "I work in partnership with two very smart and experienced attorneys who provide the legal guidance for my antipiracy strategy and help make the decisions regarding the resolution of cases—specifically whether the investigations should be handled civilly or criminally," notes Swartzendruber. In most cases, he'll then contact law enforcement officials.
"We try to conduct criminal investigation because they have more impact than civil cases," says Swartzendruber. "Some people feel that's just the cost of doing business if we go after them with a civil case and they drag it out. If we do a criminal investigation, the penalties are more severe and far reaching. So we are very active in working with federal, state, and local law enforcement."
Swartzendruber stresses that most of the criminals pursued aren't big organizations. "All it has to be is one person operating multiple Web sites, knowing that this stuff is illegal to distribute."
In addition to these law enforcement cases, Swartzendruber's department is sending "cease and desist" letters to some brain dump Web sites. Once sites receive these letters, they should be prepared for follow-up action, says Swartzendruber.
Success stories
Recently, Swartzendruber's department worked with the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to help track down Robert R. Keppel who, since 1999, had been selling Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer (MCSE) and Microsoft Certified Solution Developer (MCSD) exams and answers on his now-defunct Web sites at cheet-sheets.com and cheetsheets.com.
Keppel made almost $750,000 from his operation, purchasing a new Lexus RX300 and a 1997 Ferrari 355 Spider with some of this money.
As part of his plea agreement with the United States, Keppel will forfeit his interest in the Lexus and Ferrari and pay restitution of more than $56,000. He is scheduled to be sentenced soon and most likely will receive a jail sentence and a fine of up to $250,000.
In another case, Swartzendruber worked with a local law enforcement team in San Antonio, Texas. He discovered that a Web site run by TestKiller Ltd. in San Antonio, was distributing illegal test content. He contacted the fraud unit in the San Antonio Police Department, and they began an investigation. In June 2002, the police seized the assets of TestKiller Ltd., including office equipment and more than $400,000 in cash. The San Antonio police have referred the case to the Bexar County Prosecutors office for their consideration to issue indictments.
For Swartzendruber, these cases are just the beginning. "We have a tremendous amount of intelligence that we've gathered on all sorts of illegal activities," says Swartzendruber. With this intelligence and dedicated resources for eradicating piracy, he's confident that his team will be able to pursue the illegal operations that are currently on their radar screen.
For more information
To find out more about Microsoft's exam security policies and procedures, visit Frequently Asked Questions About Exam Security and Integrity.
To report suspicious Web sites or individuals, write to tctips@microsoft.com. Be sure to include your contact information.