Does Udemy sell braindumps?

Xenith19

I think I may have accidentally bought one.  I thought they had a decent reputation but having looked at the practice tests, they look unsettlingly like the real thing.

https://www.udemy.com/share/102Y5aB0oZclhTTXg=/

The last thing I want is to ch eat, but I'm scared I might've done so accidentally.

iBrokeIT

They've never had a good reputation: https://www.troyhunt.com/the-piracy-paradox-at-udemy/

JDMurray

I've heard that some Udemy authors have plagiarized (i.e., pirated) material from other training vendors and Udemy has not checked for this possibility, but this is the first I've heard of actual **** materials included in any Udemy courses. If Udemy is not vetting the materials submitted by their authors then anything is possible.

Xenith19

JDMurray said:

I've heard that some Udemy authors have plagiarized (i.e., pirated) material from other training vendors and Udemy has not checked for this possibility, but this is the first I've heard of actual **** materials included in any Udemy courses. If Udemy is not vetting the materials submitted by their authors then anything is possible.

Thanks for your input. 

I googled around and found practice tests called braindumps on their site for sale.  I requested and got a refund for the exam I bought. 

Are there any reputable practice exam vendors?  I used to use Transcender, who is now KaplanIT, who is changing their name again to CyberVista.  Are they still reputable?  There's the official practice exam by MeasureUp, but those are usually much easier than the actual exam. 

The more I look, the more I see tests advertised as actual exam questions, and comments affirming that.  Some comments even complain that there were questions on the exam not on the practice exam.

I didn't realize cheating was so pervasive.

JSN

Honestly, I've used some instructors on there. Jason Dion and Michael Myers both use the platform. I would recommend test out though. 

chrisone

Udemy is a reputable platform. No I do not have any insight into their internal policies or practices. I am confident they do not want br.dmps or items on their platform that **** bigger brands that they do business with. Whether they get to police and catch all the bad guys is another story. Unless you work at Udemy and can answer all this, we are just blowing smoke or reading pissed off authors comments. 

In the URL you posted, seems like the author is showing his face and contact details. Why would one do that during criminal activity? Can all that be spoofed? sure....
How would one know they have a dmp unless they took the test and identified question by question?

There are many practice test like udemy products. Some are from reputable vendors who make a living off udemy training, some could be plagiarized or worse dmps. 

just a thought....

SteveLavoie

I think I will continue to buy from Pluralsigh, ITPro or O'Reilly. 

Xenith19

chrisone said:

Udemy is a reputable platform. No I do not have any insight into their internal policies or practices. I am confident they do not want br.dmps or items on their platform that **** bigger brands that they do business with. Whether they get to police and catch all the bad guys is another story. Unless you work at Udemy and can answer all this, we are just blowing smoke or reading pissed off authors comments. 

In the URL you posted, seems like the author is showing his face and contact details. Why would one do that during criminal activity? Can all that be spoofed? sure....
How would one know they have a dmp unless they took the test and identified question by question?

There are many practice test like udemy products. Some are from reputable vendors who make a living off udemy training, some could be plagiarized or worse dmps. 

just a thought....

Perhaps I panicked.  I got my boss' approval to buy it as study material on the company card, and he specifically warned me against buying brain **** (which I never would've done anyway). 

I just wish I could be certain.  If Udemy isn't auditing the content, then we're at the mercy of Microsoft.  If they deem certain practice tests to be ****, then we're at risk of a lifetime ban.

itdept

I probably would not have gone with a course with no reviews and costs $50. I think there is a Jason Dion on there that is reputable. You can get a full refund in any event

jibtech

Personally, I have been happy with uCertify, Pluralsight, Skillsoft, as well as some others I can’t remember off the top of my head.

As far as Udemy, it’s a platform. There is great content, and there is sh** content. If you pay attention to the reviews and choose reputable instructors, you should be okay. 

Xenith19

jibtech said:

Personally, I have been happy with uCertify, Pluralsight, Skillsoft, as well as some others I can’t remember off the top of my head.

As far as Udemy, it’s a platform. There is great content, and there is sh** content. If you pay attention to the reviews and choose reputable instructors, you should be okay. 

We have a company subscription to Pluralsight and the MS-900 course is great.  The problem is I can find no corresponding practice tests for it that aren't suspicious, apart from MeasureUp.  One of the other team members suggested this is difficult because cloud subject matter changes frequently, and I suppose that makes sense.

Thanks for your input fellas.  I guess I'll just cover as much ground as I can, take the exam, and see how she goes.

Infosec_Sam

jibtech said:

As far as Udemy, it’s a platform. There is great content, and there is sh** content. If you pay attention to the reviews and choose reputable instructors, you should be okay. 

This is pretty much my take as well, albeit with different language I've learned a couple programming languages through their platform, and I saw a large difference between the two. Solid platform, but I had to do my homework to find the right course.

@Xenith19 - if you're interested in any alternatives, I'd encourage you to check out Infosec Skills! We vet all of our content and authors before adding them to the platform, so you can make sure you're getting quality material across the board. Feel free to give it a try for 30 days free with coupon code: infoseccommunity

jibtech

Infosec_Sam said:

This is pretty much my take as well, albeit with different language I've learned a couple programming languages through their platform, and I saw a large difference between the two. Solid platform, but I had to do my homework to find the right course.

Hey now, I even put those asterisks in my self! 

chrisone

Its crazy but you can see on Amazon, people selling questionable practice tests for [insert your exam here]. I am sure as they get reported, Amazon does its best to remove them but cannot get to them all in a fashionable time. Doesn't mean Amazon is not a reputable company....just sayin  

NetworkingStudent

iBrokeIT said:

They've never had a good reputation: https://www.troyhunt.com/the-piracy-paradox-at-udemy/

Looks like they are aware that a lot of things get pirated.  

I like the tweet from Robert Noack @ Try hunt @udemy

do you even understand udemy is basically like YouTube. These things happen. But they should take it down.

You Tube knows they are doing something wrong by letting authors sell brain ****, but they don't care enough to do anything aobut it.  

--------------------

https://medium.com/@robconery/how-udemy-is-profiting-from-piracy-5638b929ffca#.nzz4cq24z

Udemy has confirmed that quite a number of pirated courses have been published on their site. This is a blog post that Dennis Yang wrote in response to Troy’s problem (emphasis mine):

The good news is, the good actors in the Udemy system are much greater than the bad. On average, over 15,000 courses are uploaded to Udemy per year. So far in 2015, we have received 125 DMCA notifications as well as 45 “Hey, this looks weird maybe you should look into this,” notifications. Our copyright team has looked into every one of these complaints.

That’s… a lot, and just for 2015! To me the number is likely a lot higher — the only way that pirated authors know their stuff is in the library is if they actively look for it. The titles and descriptions are typically changed, as are the graphics identifying the course (the things you would search on)— so you basically have to stumble onto it, or someone needs to tip you off (as with Troy’s case). I can’t imagine this happens that often.

LonerVamp

I have used some materials from Udemy in the past, but I find their practices to be questionable. I mean, they really do have a vested interest in selling whatever sells, ethics aside. I have very little trust in rando courses on Udemy being a) useful and b) original work. The well-regarded things are what I stick to on that platform.

Also, I can have an opinion on Udemy if that is my experience and I choose to, smoke blowing or no...

NetworkingStudent

Xenith19 said:

JDMurray said:

I've heard that some Udemy authors have plagiarized (i.e., pirated) material from other training vendors and Udemy has not checked for this possibility, but this is the first I've heard of actual **** materials included in any Udemy courses. If Udemy is not vetting the materials submitted by their authors then anything is possible.

Thanks for your input. 

I googled around and found practice tests called braindumps on their site for sale.  I requested and got a refund for the exam I bought. 

Are there any reputable practice exam vendors?  I used to use Transcender, who is now KaplanIT, who is changing their name again to CyberVista.  Are they still reputable?  There's the official practice exam by MeasureUp, but those are usually much easier than the actual exam. 

The more I look, the more I see tests advertised as actual exam questions, and comments affirming that.  Some comments even complain that there were questions on the exam not on the practice exam.

I didn't realize cheating was so pervasive.

The only practice tests that I know of that are NOT 100% brain **** are Measure Up and Kaplan IT(now called Cyber Vista).    There are several practice exams out there that are not brain ****.  For example, I have heard that some people really like the Boson practice exams.   Whizlabs is a new practice vendor that has entered that market, and I have heard good news regarding their practice tests 

Here is a tech exams post that does mention that Whizlabs offers legit practice exams:

https://community.infosecinstitute.com/discussion/131382/is-whizlabs-legit

----------------------------------------------

Cyber Vista still honors the 100% pass guarantee that was establish previously established by Transcender and Kaplan IT.  I do not think a company would offer refunds for practice tests, if they were selling brain **** tests.

https://certify.cybervista.net/pass-guarantee

Here is the AZ -900 Practice test.

https://certify.cybervista.net/products/microsoft/microsoft-azure-fundamentals-practice-test/

FYI you can try Cyber Vista’s practice tests for free.  Here is a link to those trial tests.

https://certify.cybervista.net/products/?filter_product-type=free-trial

.

DatabaseHead

I just took a VB.net course from UDEMY.  It was really good, never cert'd up from that website so don't know about ****.