5 Dangers of using Pirated Software in Business

Software piracy is defined as an act of illegally copying or distributing software without being the rightful owner or having legal rights. With the growing technological advancements, there are so many useful programs and software available online for businesses. Depending on your business, software help to enhance its efficiency.

Software piracy can also come in a variety of other forms that you may not think are bad. So forget about debating whether you consider a certain act as piracy or not. Simply purchase the legitimate software. Software piracy has become a growing problem in recent years. More than a quarter of software installed globally is in fact pirated software, according to the Global Software Survey.

The key reason for such distasteful habits is that many of these individuals complain about how expensive the cost of legitimate software is. And the sad news is that both individuals and even business owners have developed this tendency to pirate software.

Software Piracy is Illegal

Just to spruce up your knowledge, in case you are unaware, software piracy is a felony. This means that if you are found guilty, hefty fines can be imposed on you or you could even face jail time. This is because one can consider software piracy as cybercrime and theft as it results in abuse and misuse of property that you don’t own.

In fact, many firms have been raided and taken down simply for pirating and using unlicensed software. For such corporations, it not only fines, but the consequences can even mean up to five years of jail time for senior management.

 

Potential Malware Attacks

So if you are selfish enough to not be bothered by fines or jail time, malware attacks should scare you. Because this means that you are losing the very same thing you have been working on. Using pirated and unlicensed software puts you at greater risk of malware attacks.

In actuality, individuals that visit piracy sites or download unlicensed software are almost 50% more likely to suffer from malware attacks on their devices or networks. Some of the common risks you are exposed to when using unlicensed software include credit card and banking info theft, identity theft, ransomware ( being locked out of your system until you pay the ransom), ad fraud and even risk the quality of your work being compromised.

Losses To Legitimate Software Developers And Companies

Yes, the online world is virtual and may appear to be superficial. However, legitimate software companies and developers do depend on the sales of this software. So pirating and the use of unlicensed software does actually equate to you physically robbing a store. This does bring about losses to these companies and directly affects the individuals that work for it.

In another scenario, these legitimate software developers and companies are the ones that save us from deadly malware attacks thanks to their incredible software designs. It’s like a chain reaction – you and a million other pirate software, the company suffers significant losses in sales, and has to retrench some of its employees.

Turns out it the same company that your sister works for and she is one of those retrenched. Yet, incapacitating them financially can get them out of business or even limit their resources to allow for more protective software designs. So this, in fact, turns out to be both our loss.

No Updates for Your Software

Because you have unlicensed and pirated software installed on your devices, this means that you will not be able to do the constant updating of the software. Once the software is newly introduced, over time it becomes susceptible to bugs and other malware attacks. This is because crackers use their time to try to navigate and penetrate the system.

Hence, because a pirate program is cracked by illegitimate individuals after certain updates, the software fails to download the legitimate updates for the actual software developer, thus, leaving your devices and networks vulnerable. However, for those with legitimate software, this is a worry they can push to the back of their minds as software developers provide constant updates to counter the problem and leave crackers a step behind.

Pirated Software May Be Malfunctioned

Because they are acquired illegally, you may not know who developed the software and even where they came from. Thus, if the software malfunctions, you will not be able to know this. Thus, the use of such software can be detrimental to the quality of your work. This means that pirated and unlicensed software is more likely to crash, lose files, and even corrupt files.

The touch screen compatible Microsoft 10 or cloud-based Office 365 for example, cannot be accessed with pirated software – so you will be missing out. Plus, legitimate software guarantees you a clean record! Therefore, as much as legitimate software appears to be expensive, it is always wise to go for them. This ensures that even your work and the durability of your devices are not compromised.

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