Protecting AWS Certification value through security measures
AWS Certifications represent a significant achievement in your AI and cloud computing journey, validating your technical expertise and opening doors to new career opportunities… While some of these measures may seem detailed, they’re all designed with one goal in mind: ensuring your AWS Certific…
AWS Certifications represent a significant achievement in your AI and cloud computing journey, validating your technical expertise and opening doors to new career opportunities. Every year, AI and cloud professionals earn these respected credentials, joining a global community of certified AWS experts. To ensure your hard work and accomplishment maintains its well-deserved value in the industry, AWS takes careful steps to protect the integrity of our certification program.
In this post, we’ll walk you through the various ways we safeguard your achievement and explain how you can partner with us in maintaining these high standards. While some of these measures may seem detailed, they’re all designed with one goal in mind: ensuring your AWS Certification continues to be a meaningful reflection of your skills and knowledge.
The Certification Program Agreement
When you register for an AWS Certification exam, you agree to follow the AWS Certification Program Agreement that establishes the foundation for maintaining certification integrity. This agreement outlines your responsibilities and our commitment to protecting the program’s value for all participants.
Preparing for your exam
As you begin studying for your AWS Certification exam, it’s important to be mindful of what you discuss with others who have taken our exams. Sharing exam questions or answers with co-workers, friends, or others—whether during your studies or after your exam—is strictly prohibited. Similarly, be aware of the study materials you use. While there are many legitimate training resources available, some unauthorized content exists that contains actual exam items that have been improperly disclosed. By identifying and removing this type of content—commonly referred to as “brain dumps”—we work to protect the value of your future certification and ensure it remains a trusted symbol of your expertise. Accessing these materials, even unintentionally, violates the AWS Certification Program Agreement. If you encounter any unauthorized exam content during your preparation, please report it immediately to AWS Training & Certification Customer Service. Your partnership helps maintain certification integrity and industry recognition.
Before your exam
Before you register for an AWS Certification exam, make sure the first and last names on your AWS Certification account match the first and last names on your government-issued ID (more about that in the next section). Candidates should also only have one AWS Certification account. If you can’t update the name on your account or you have more than one account that needs to be merged, AWS Training & Certification Customer Service can help. Keep in mind that creating or using multiple AWS Certification accounts to circumvent security policies is strictly prohibited.
Pearson VUE is AWS Certification’s test delivery provider. If you’re going to take your exam using Pearson VUE’s OnVUE online proctored service, it’s important to complete a system test before exam day. Testing the computer you’ll use to take your exam helps identify and resolve any technical issues for a less stressful experience on test day. Also, make sure you don’t have any software that could compromise your exam running on test day—like remote desktop or screen-sharing applications.
Testing rules and security measures
Let’s walk through the key aspects of our security measures, starting with the testing experience. For both test center and online exams, you must present valid government-issued identification that exactly matches the name on your AWS Certification account. If testing at an authorized Pearson VUE Test Center, you must bring two forms of ID. Pearson VUE’s online testing ID requirements can be found here.
For both online and test center exams, notes, writing instruments, phones, and other electronic devices are among the prohibited items you cannot access during your exam. Make sure you understand what is prohibited for your testing location of choice.For online exams, you’ll complete a video scan of your testing area to show it’s clean and free of prohibited materials. Throughout your exam, keep your eyes on the computer screen and stay within the camera’s view. Your testing space must be private—no one else can enter or pass through during your exam, and you can’t mumble, talk, or read exam items aloud. If you need to leave your workstation for any reason, first get permission from your proctor. While your phone must be nearby for potential technical issues, it must remain out of arm’s reach and can only be accessed after notifying your proctor.Regardless of testing location, follow all proctor instructions promptly. Stay focused on your exam and avoid any behavior that the proctor might see as a rule violation. The proctor’s role is to maintain exam security and ensure a fair testing experience for all candidates. Failure to comply with proctor instructions may result in your exam being terminated.
Post-exam security: Data forensics
After exam delivery, our security measures continue with rigorous data forensics analysis. We conduct continuous statistical analyses to identify unusual patterns in test performance that might indicate irregular testing behavior. If we detect significant deviations from normal testing patterns, we may act by invalidating exam results, even after a certification has been issued. If this happens to you, you have an opportunity to appeal the invalidation by following the process described in the AWS Certification Data Forensics Policy.
The dangers of proxy testing
You may encounter individuals or organizations online offering to take AWS Certification exams on your behalf, often with guarantees of passing scores. While this may seem like an easy path to certification, it’s a serious violation of the AWS Certification Program Agreement to have someone else take your exam or to receive exam answers while testing. Both AWS and Pearson VUE have sophisticated mechanisms in place to detect proxy testing attempts. If caught, you risk being permanently banned from participating in the AWS Certification Program. Your professional reputation and career opportunities are far more valuable than any short-term gains from attempting to circumvent our testing processes. Remember, AWS Certifications are designed to validate your genuine knowledge and skills—there are no shortcuts to earning them legitimately.
Investigation process, sanctions, and appeals
When we identify potential violations or testing irregularities, whether detected by data forensics or reported to us by proctors, we follow a structured investigation process. Candidates must cooperate fully, provide requested information, and answer all questions truthfully. If violations are confirmed, we may apply various sanctions, from warnings to program suspension, depending on the severity of the violation.
If you receive sanctions, refer to the AWS Certification General or Data Forensic Policies for information on next steps. You have 14 calendar days from the exam or sanction date to submit an appeal to AWS Training & Certification Customer Service or the AWS Certification Security team. It’s crucial to respond by the deadline and to provide complete information in your initial appeal, as we typically don’t consider later submissions unless specifically requested.
Protecting our security methods
We understand that candidates may want to know more specific details about detected anomalies than we provide when we invalidate an exam or deny an appeal. However, to maintain the effectiveness of our detection methods, we cannot share detailed information about our forensic analyses. This protection is essential to prevent individuals from attempting to circumvent our security measures.
Privacy commitment
Our commitment to protecting AWS Certifications extends to your privacy as well. We communicate only with you about invalidated exams and appeal processes. We don’t discuss individual cases with employers, managers, not even other Amazonians who don’t support the AWS Certification Security team’s operations—even if you give us permission. Follow the appeal procedures outlined in our policies or in communication you receive from AWS. If you rely on others to advocate on your behalf, you run the risk of having your appeal claim denied for missing a deadline.
Conclusion
In this post, we showed how AWS protects certification integrity through comprehensive security measures. We encourage you to review our certification policies before your exam and maintain the highest standards of exam integrity.
Have questions about certification security? Have information about suspicious testing behavior or brain dumps? Review our policies below or contact AWS Training & Certification Customer Service.
Thank you for being a member of the AWS Certification community and doing your part to protect the integrity and value of AWS Certifications.
Additional resources
Author: AWS Exam Security