I'm always getting e-mails from Oracle professionals asking about
specific training and other services for Oracle professionals, and I
am sad to report that there are dishonest people who have been
reported for stealing from fellow members the Oracle community.
Last year I received numerous
complaints about an Oracle professional who appeared to be offering
training content and not delivering it, as-promised. Sadly, I found
out too-late and I also became a victim of unsavory business practices
by this fellow Oracle professional.
oraknowledge.com
I was approached by an Oracle DBA
named Ed Haskins last year to help create a series of training for his
web domain www.oraknowledge.com.
Haskins never paid me for my services and I still have an uncollected
court judgment against Ed Haskins.
Ed Haskins also publicly
misrepresented that he was affiliated with me and I began to receive
complaints from Oracle consumers who said that they were bilked out of
thousands of dollars. Here are some links about Ed Haskins and
oraknowledge users:
http://www.examnotes.net/article1034781.html
http://www.orafaq.com/msgboard/marketplace/messages/3549.htm
http://www.lazydba.com/oracledba.pl?0::77253
I have yet to collect the money that
Ed Haskins and oraknowledge owes me, and I had assumed that after all
the wrongdoing was reported that this onerous practice would cease.
Sadly, I was wrong.
databaseLearning.com
I was alerted to this web site by a
fellow Oracle professional, asking if I had ever heard of John Wallen:
http://www.databaselearning.com I did some quick checking and
discovered:
-
John Wallen has no industry
articles of contact information and the photo appears to be a stock
photo of a model.
-
The address is a phony "suite"
mail-forwarding service.
-
If you do a whois, it's operated
by Ed Haskins
orasecure.com
I recently got a spam e-mail with
what appeared to me to be another case of attempted Oracle consumer
fraud from www.orasecure.com:
From: Robert Allen - Oracle
Security Consultant <reply@orasecure.com>
Subject: I recorded it incase you missed it
Date: Thu, 28 Oct 2004 16:40:28 +0000
Hi. I just wanted to send you a quick note to inform you that my
"Hack-Proofing the Oracle Database" online class sold out in less
than 48 hours.
Many of you have been calling my office to ask when the next
course will be offered, but unfortunately I'm booked for security
consulting assignments straight through March, 2005.
But I do have some good news however...
I recorded my entire "Hack-Proofing the Oracle Database" onto 5
digital video CD-ROMs; and I even had the course workbook printed
up.
I have 100 copies of this package available if you're interested.
You can get all the info on this package here:
http://www.orasecure.com/hackproof/hackproof_cdrom.html
Thanks for your time,
Robert Allen
Senior Oracle Security Consultant
OraSecure, Inc. |
This
looked mighty fishy to me, and I checked whois and found that
the site has a hidden administrative contact, a suspicious sign.
I also noted that an eLance user named EdHaskins paid
$175 to create the "orasecure" project:
Upon further investigation I noted a
phony photograph (a stock photo that can be purchased online, and a
completely unverifiable biography of a Oracle "expert" that I have
never heard of:
|
Robert Allen
Oracle Security Expert |
|
My name is Robert Allen,
and I’m the Founder of OraSecure, Inc. With over 9
years of trial and error from painstaking research, I’m now
acknowledged as a promising top expert in the field of
Oracle database security.
For the past 7 years, I've consulted dozens of Fortune 1000
companies on all areas of Oracle Database Administration.
The areas I've focused my most attention to are Oracle
Security Features and Security Audits.
I've personally audited over 400 Oracle
instances over the years, as well as taught and mentored
more than 80 DBAs to do the same. |
|
I don't live in New Jersey, but I
find it hard to believe that these activities are legal, especially
when fake credentials are offered. While I'm not privy to any
direct knowledge of consumer fraud, I can say that I have an unpaid
court judgment against both Ed Haskins and OraKnowledge Inc.
Please, don't become another victim.
Carefully check references on any Oracle training or CD offers.
