BSA report: Strong connection between illegal software and malware infections

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#1

We’ve just posted the following news: BSA report: Strong connection between illegal software and malware infections[newsimage]http://www.myce.com/wp-content/images_posts/2016/05/myce-bsa-2015-95x75.jpg[/newsimage]

Research from the Business Software Alliance (BSA) shows that there is a strong connection between illegal software and malware. According to a report from the Alliance, the risk to become infected by malware increases when more pirated software is used.

            Read the full article here: [http://www.myce.com/news/bsa-report-strong-connection-illegal-software-malware-infections-79524/](http://www.myce.com/news/bsa-report-strong-connection-illegal-software-malware-infections-79524/)

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#2

Some Interesting results from different places from around the world but they really had to research it to come to the conclusion that hacked programs may have viruses and malware…:bigsmile::bigsmile:

#3

Were they ever going to reach any other conclusion apart from this one?Â

It’s a pretty silly bit of research really, most cracks and keygens get flagged by security software as malicious simply because of what they do, so just using one could mean a “malware infection” in the BSA’s eyes…

#4

I was unable to figure out if it includes trial software as it only say ‘not properly licensed’ which to me is inconclusive (I may have missed it though).
It is naturally so that there is a link between web-downloads of cracked software and infections we really do not need any research on that subject apart from being online, but since even commercial software and shareware comes with ad-ware installers which are also considered malware, it is interesting to know if unlicensed (trial) shareware is included in the study.

When it comes to the necessity of educating the users about company policies, it is important to educate them in a way so they understand why the policies are necessary.
That it is important to know what software is installed in various computers and servers within the corporation should not come as any revelation to anyone, but to control this the IT department must stop adding the user to the local computer’s administrators group and thus grant them installation rights. Even then you will have to run inventory audit scans, but if you fail in limiting the user’s local rights such a scan will be of limited value as the user can simply reinstall the rogue software from the net.

With the above said, I do find it more than troublesome that companies generally take this problem too lightly still. I can absolutely guarantee that they will take it seriously at a time, it is only a question how much it will cost before they do…

#5

The BSA’s report is complete nonsense for multiple reasons.

First of all, higher education doesn’t mean more income. I’m sure there are plenty of law students who are facing large student debts and low income. I’m sure someone at some point has said something along the lines of “I graduated at the top of my class, and I still ended up working at McDonald’s”. News comedian John Oliver once joked about education being the only currently that’s more difficult to spend than bitcoin. It doesn’t help that the educational system fails to prepare anyone for the real world.

Second of all, it’s possible that the countries that allegedly fail to adhere to the “rule of law” do so because of unjust laws. If something is good and easy to do, and the government forbids you from doing so, people will fight their government in one way or another. Of course, I can’t expect copyright trolls like the BSA to take that into consideration. Also, violations of copyright law doesn’t mean a country is lawless, even if the BSA wants us to think that way.

Third of all, the BSA isn’t exactly impartial when it comes to reports about illegal downloading. After all, this is the same group that insisted that, should the United States Library of Congress legalize exemptions the “technological protections” in section 1201 of the DMCA for the sake of automobile repairs, the sky would somehow fall. Also, according to GNU.org, in 2001 the BSA started a “terror campaign” in Argentina, making “slightly veiled threats that people sharing software would be raped.” Given the BSA’s extremist nature, I honestly wouldn’t trust what the BSA says about anything. Also, the majority of recent malware-related news articles I’ve been reading on MyCE have been about ransomware programs distributed via email. Anyone with half a brain knows that email has nothing to do with piracy, even though it is a potential source of malware.

After having careful considered the above, I’ve concluded that I have no choice but to tell the BSA to suck it.

PS: IMHO, there’s really no point in downloading illegal copies of software these days. After all, there are more than enough $0 programs, including entire operating systems, to do pretty much anything a user could want to do, assuming of course you’re willing to forget about all-powerful brand names. I can perfectly understand illegally downloading movies, games, music, etc. Just not computer programs.