KUALA LUMPUR (June 14): The issue of “ghost piracy” has been found to be rampant among design, creative, animation and engineering professionals in Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines, and Vietnam during the pandemic.

The phenomenon of “ghost piracy” is the act of remotely accessing unlicensed software.

In a statement on Monday (June 13), the Software Alliance (BSA), a trade group established by Microsoft in 1988 to represent commercial software makers, said businesses are using technology to allow employees to remotely access unlicensed software from the office while working from home.

BSA said that earlier this month, the Enforcement Division of Malaysia’s Ministry of Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs (MDTCA) conducted its ninth raid targeting ghost piracy.

It said this included raids conducted on an interior design firm and a design and build company in Kedah.

Raids were also conducted against companies in the manufacturing, precision engineering and construction industries.

BSA said a total value of about RM657,975 (US$150,000) in unlicensed software, including V-Ray, a 3D rendering software for computer graphics, were found installed during these raids.

It said enforcement officers also discovered that a majority of the computers belonging to interns attached to these businesses were found to have unlicensed software.

BSA senior director Tarun Sawney said companies have found ways to access illegal software even during remote work to the detriment of cyber security and rule of law.

“As an organisation, we are actively working with governments in the region to ensure greater levels of software compliance. Unlicensed software is neither secure nor stable — and should not be used by businesses.

“No creator can come up with quality design using illegal software and when these designs are for the roads, bridges, rail lines and infrastructure then companies are also taking great risk,” he said.

Sawney said with engineering and construction firms among the companies most frequently reported found flouting the law, this should be of particular interest to government agencies that procure their services for infrastructure and national development projects.