More than half of Philippine companies use pirated software

MANILA, Philippines — More than half of Philippine companies use illegal software in their business operations, a new survey released Friday found, putting data at risk nationwide and creating significant gaps in the country’s cyber security defenses.

According to a 2018 poll by industry group BSA | The Software Alliance, an estimated 64% of corporations in the Philippines use pirated software.

The rate is higher than the Philippines’ Southeast Asian peers like Singapore and Malaysia, where the use of unlicensed software is at 27% and 51%, respectively.

BSA warned that public’s data privacy is at risk as malware attacks, enabled by counterfeit software, allow hackers to steal customer’s data from companies.

“What we would like to see improve is the activity levels of CEOs in the Philippines to make sure their corporations are 100 percent legal in terms of their software use,” BSA Senior Director Tarun Sawney said.

“Unfortunately, today, we know that this is not the case.”

To curb software piracy among businesses, BSA said there is a need for intensified enforcement of the IP Code of the Philippines and Optical Media Act. Authorities, for instance, may conduct frequent raids of companies using illegal software on a nationwide scale.

BSA also urged CEOs and C-suite leadership to self-police corporate use of software to protect their clients’ information and safeguard their firms’ digital assets.

“CEOs in the Philippines need to do better. CEOs need to proactively ensure that their companies are compliant,” Sawney said.

“Also, as CEOs are self-policing their corporations, this will protect their data from malware and hackers, leading to improved productivity and efficient management,” he added.