IT security and control firm Sophos is warning businesses of the
security and productivity risks of allowing counterfeit software
programs to run on their company networks. The warning follows
research from the Business Software Alliance (BSA) that revealed
that more than a third of PCs worldwide are running pirated
software.
According to the research, 35% of computers run at least one
illegal program, with computer users in China and Russia the worst
offenders (with over 80% of computers running pirated software).
Sophos experts note that pirated software can leave business
networks open to attack as cybercriminals are provided with an
additional route to infection.
"Putting aside the obvious legal issues, piracy can have a real
impact on a company in terms of security," said Graham Cluley, senior
technology consultant at Sophos. "It's not enough to make sure that
all PCs are running legitimate copies of Word, businesses must also
control what programs their employees are downloading, installing
and running. Patching against software vulnerabilities is key to
any good IT security policy, but with pirated software this becomes
near impossible. Pirated software downloaded from dodgy websites or
bought from a man in an alleyway will not come with technical
support, and may even be virus infected."
Software piracy rate by region
Software piracy rate by region. Source:
BSA.
According to Sophos, running pirated software on corporate
networks can also have severe repercussions on the network
infrastructure, hogging valuable bandwidth and network
resources.
"Businesses simply cannot afford to ignore piracy," continued
Cluley. "The corporate network is the backbone of any company and
if you allow users to run anything they like on it, whether illegal
or not, you shouldn't be surprised when it breaks."
Sophos recommends companies protect their desktops, servers and
gateways with a consolidated solution to
thwart the threats of viruses, spyware, phishing, hackers and spam,
as well as controlling which applications are authorized to run on
the network.
Sophos is headquartered in Boston, US and Oxford, UK. More information is available at www.sophos.com.