Billions of dollars are lost each year to piracy. It may seem innocent enough to install software on a couple of extra machines, but the results can be costly. Software audits are on the rise and companies around the world are being caught. Here are three reasons you NEED to be concerned:
- Software piracy can mean big fines. According to the Business Software Alliance (BSA), convicted companies can be fined up to $250,000
- Software piracy can mean jail time. people within a company can could go to jail for up to five years
- Software piracy raises the risk of malware attacks. Security threats take advantage of weaknesses in software. This is why patches and upgrades are needed. Pirated software usually can’t accept these patches so it leaves you vulnerable to these threats. Plus websites offering pirated software are usually filled with malware and viruses embedded into the downloads. You could get more than you ask for.
You may think “Software audits? That will never happen to me”. Well it can. No one really expects them. The fact is, if you are using unlicensed software, your business is at risk. Even if you’re well managed, you need to be cautious. If it’s numbers you need, last year the BSA announced that it settled with 12 Canadian companies for a total of $431,336 for using unlicensed software.
What are you doing to protect yourself?