NCIP & BSA (ASSOCIATION OF SOFTWARE MANUFACTURERS) OPEN A NEW PAGE IN FIGHTING WITH COUNTERFEIT SOFTWARE IN BELARUS

The National Center of Intellectual Property and BSA announce the beginning of cooperation and the launch of a new campaign to raise awareness of the business environment to prevent and combat counterfeit software.

The campaign "Digital Economy vs. Unlicensed Software" focuses on security and other risks that companies face using counterfeit software.

In an IDC study conducted on behalf of BSA in 2015, "Unlicensed Software and Threats to Cybersecurity" the percentage of unlicensed software is compared, installed on personal computers in 81 countries around the world, with the number of malicious programs detected on personal computers. The study indicated that there is a direct positive interconnection (r = 0.79, on a scale of 0 to 1, with a maximum interconnection of 1.00) between the percentage of unlicensed software and the number of malicious programs attacks.

Nowadays, information technologies have deeply penetrated in a life of society. The digital economy is being created in Belarus, which is one of the priority development areas. It cannot be denied that the IT industry would be rapidly developed and improved, and in a couple of years technologies will be the main integral part of every person's life. In this regard, security and enforcement of rights to intellectual property are necessary.

Cooperation between NCIP and BSA is aimed at supporting enterprises in prevention of risks associated with using of unlicensed or counterfeit software, through educational and preventive measures. Using a joint educational campaign that targets more than 5,000 different enterprises which can use available tools to help them to identify and avoid counterfeit or unlicensed software and thus to manage the associated with these legal and security threats.

Mr. Piotr Broukin, Director General of NCIP: "The transition of society to the digital economy requires conformity to new challenges and realities. Without changing the attitude of society to counterfeit software no one can expect any improvement in the digital development. In this situation, not only legislative or punitive measures are required, the main purpose is to understand risks and have clear understanding of causes and consequences of such risks".

Ms. Svetlana Valueva, external consultant BSA: "The reality is that unlicensed software downloaded or purchased from unauthorized sources can lead to problems – not only legal problems, about which we are informing the business community, but also issues related to the security of business and personal data, as well as functionality of information systems".

BSA | The Association of Software Manufacturers (www.bsa.org) is the world's leading advocate for the software industry. Its members enter the number of the most innovative companies in the world, creating software solutions which revive the economy and improve modern life. The headquarter of BSA is in Washington, DC, and it has operations in more than 60 countries. BSA is a pioneer of compliance programs that promote the legal use of software and protect public policies that promote technology innovation and stimulate the growth of the digital economy.

Note: the author of photos is Sergey Lukashev.