The Guyana National Computer Incident Response Team (Guyana National CIRT) has issued a warning to the general public against the use of ‘pirated’ or ‘cracked’ software as they can lend to infection and security breaches in computers.
According to a press release from the local CIRT, software can be classified as either proprietary or ‘pirated/cracked’ and it is that of the latter category which exposes the computer to risks.
The proprietary software, is protected under copyright law and is issued by the manufacturers through vendors, who then give consumers legitimate access via licence keys.
On the other hand, the ‘pirated’ or ‘cracked’ software which is illegal in many countries, is a modified version of the licence keys which “can and often does contain malware which infects a user’s system and can open a host of backdoors for stealing information.” The release said. Most times this type of ‘pirated’ software is offered for free downloads on line.
Besides the security risks, “the problem with using cracked operating system/software is first and foremost an ethical issue because it is theft and violation of intellectual property and copyrighted material.” The release stated.
There are free safe alternatives, the Guyana National CIRT said, in the form of Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) and examples of such are Linux, OpenOffice and Firefox.
Further, currently, there is a vibrant local FOSS community- FOSS Guyana, whose members are engaged in promoting the use of open source software in schools and within the government of Guyana, the release said.
