A new report commissioned by the BSA , a global alliance of software developers, confirms the link between unlicensed software and malicious code (“malware”) in personal computers.
The analysis, conducted by global research firm IDC , found that the higher the rate of unlicensed software in a country, the greater the amount of malware in general Found on computers in the country.
The involvement of governments, companies and end users is clear: the elimination of unlicensed software on their networks could help reduce the risk of cyber security incidents
. Statistical analysis compared the rates of unlicensed software installed on computers in 81 countries, including the Argentina , a measure of detections of malware on computers tracked by Microsoft , BSA member company.
The research suggests that there is a strong positive correlation (r = 0.79) between the indices of unlicensed software and malware incidents.
A more detailed analysis indicates that the rate of unlicensed software in a country is a strong predictive index malware detections in the country. In Argentina, the encounter rate of malware is 25%.
The report is based on BSA main study that examines the global rates of use of unlicensed software.
In 2014, the Global Survey on Software BSA reported that 69% of software installed in Argentina during the previous year was not licensed, compared with 43% to worldwide.
We also found that the main reason given by users worldwide, not using unlicensed software is to avoid security threats due to malware.
Among the risks associated with unlicensed software, 64% of users worldwide cited unauthorized access by hackers as a major concern, and 59% cited loss of data access .
“The use of illegal software, results in the possible loss of computer data and suffer attack hackers. In research conducted, it concluded that organizations experience related incidents malware every three minutes, “said Montserrat Duran (pictured), Senior Director of Legal Affairs for Latin America BSA .
“malware problems relating to the software without a license, in 2014, had a cost to organizations about 500 billion,” said the executive, interviewed by iProfesional.
-To analyze the connection between the illegal software and security threats, IDC indices analyzed using pirated software and threats to cybersecurity 81 countries where reliable data on both variables exist.
There is a clear upward trend: highest regard is the rate of pirated software in a country, the greater generally, the number of PC contaminated with malware in that country .
The statistical analysis confirms that the two sets of variables are strongly correlated with each other, meaning that rise or fall together.
The correlation coefficient in this case is 0.79 (1 represents perfect correlation and 0 means no correlation).
‘What data is based?
-The rates of illegal software come from the Global Survey software, a biennial IDC study conducted for BSA, and information on security threats cybernetic intelligence comes from the report on the safety of Microsoft that analyzes the activity of 600 million computers per month .
The metric chosen for this “white paper” was the incidence rate, which is the percentage of computers running Microsoft security software in real time and where malware was found in a quarter.
To get an idea, around 20% of worldwide PC claimed to have found malware in all quarters of 2013 .
How the research was conducted?
-The authors used a statistical technique called “regression analysis”, whereby the data sets are used to obtain a formula in which a variable (the index of pirated software used) can predict the other (the rate of PC infected with malware).
What were the results in the case of Argentina compared with Latin America?
-For the case of Argentina, the encounter rate of malware is 25%, ranking eighth in comparison to other countries of the region.
However, rate of unlicensed software in the country is 69%, one of the highest rates in the region .
What sectors are most prone to this type of situation? ¿SMEs, professionals, manufacturing, commerce, etc.?
‘All economic sectors should be aware of the negative impact of the use of illegal software in economic terms and performance for their institutions.
This analysis contains no separation of industries but overall, none “escapes” from negative associated with the presence of malware on unlicensed software.
What steps companies have to comply with this situation and regularize the use of proprietary software? For example, antivirus, reinstalling software, etc.
-BSA recommends that organizations implement internal controls, and practical asset management software to reduce exposure to cyber to ensure that all software installed on their systems count on such licenses threats.
BSA comes different examples and programs to implement this type of program through this page.
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