The FINANCIAL — Georgia computer users install and use unlicensed software at the high rate, with high risks of the associated cybersecurity dangers. This conclusion come from the new 2016 Global Software Survey from BSA | The Software Alliance.
This year’s study finds 84 percent of software installed on computers in Georgia in 2015 is not properly licensed. The rate of unlicensed software use in the country represents one of the biggest decrease from 90 percent in BSA’s previous global study. Other countries in the Region that are making efforts in decreasing the rate of unlicensed software use resulted in 1-4% decrease such as Moldova, Poland and others. North America continues to have the lowest regional rate at 17 percent. In Western Europe the overall rate dropped one point to 28 percent. When it comes to worldwide data, this year’s study finds 39 percent of software installed on computers around the world in 2015 is not properly licensed, representing decrease from 43 percent in BSA’s previous global study.
According to the International Centre for the fight against cybercrime from Microsoft, Eastern European countries, about 80% of the citizens of the Eastern Europe have faced in the past with the actions of criminals, and 97.5% of companies are small and medium businesses, at least once during the year were subjected to cyber threats.
In order to counter piracy, Microsoft recommends that you use only licensed software products, conduct regular training of the basics of corporate security, as well as the use of special hardware and software data protection. Microsoft believes, that most of the companies can mitigate cybersecurity risks that are connected to the usage of unlicensed software purchased from legitimate sources, and establishing software asset management (SAM) programs, available in Georgia.
“The level of threats from criminals, using high technology, is constantly growing. And we can see a strong connection between cyberattacks and the use of unlicensed software. With more than 300 million new types of malware created annually it’s about 1 million new cyber threats per day. – says George Shevardnadze, Microsoft SAM & Compliance specialist – We recommend to use effective SAM practices and provide more education to employees, so, the Georgian companies can make themselves more cost-effective and safer. We believe that positive trend is showing that Georgia is leading the way to get close to European standards”.
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