With the National Cybersecurity Alliance’s Cybersecurity Awareness Month having come to an end, industry expert Cylynt warns there is no room for complacency and that staying cyber safe has to be a 24/7 365 priority for companies.
This year’s awareness theme was ‘Do your part. #BeCyberSmart” and encouraged that everyone can make a difference, throughout the entire organization. Cylynt echoes this and highlights businesses must be continuously vigilant to the potential threat they face that come from not only outside their organizations but also cyber threats from the inside, whether inadvertently or maliciously from their employees.
The Cylynt platform is trusted by some of the world’s leading software companies for enhanced business intelligence and globally is protecting around $50 billion of software assets and they understand all too well the wide-ranging risks that companies can face from their own teams.
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The first and most common inside threat is from employees using unlicensed software. This may be inadvertent use where legitimate license agreements have been exceeded by an organization and it may appear to be quite trivial but it’s far from it warns Cylynt. This kind of use carries serious risk as any additional software usage is not included in the latest patches and upgrades from the software provider, so does not receive the all-important improvements and fixes for security vulnerabilities, as well as general operating upgrades. Continued use of this unlicensed software, even if it is the genuine product, exposes the business to threat that many hackers will be keen to exploit, however advanced the company’s security measures may be.
A further and growing risk is from software that employees have added to networks themselves, so does not form part of the company’s approved business software. This again may be quite inadvertent by the individual as they see it as a necessity to do their job more efficiently, but interestingly this type of use has seen an increase with more individuals working remotely, especially from home and the rise in use of personal devices. However, be warned says Cylynt as with over a third of illegally downloaded software containing malware and nearly three-quarters of malware undetectable via signature-based tools, employees can be unknowingly subjecting their companies to hacking and ransomware demands.
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With many years’ experience providing anti-piracy, license compliance and software monetization technology for some of the world’s leading software companies, Cylynt is now leveraging this domain expertise to launch a unique solution for the users of ISVs’ software. Cylynt Guardian will ensure that only properly licensed software is on their networks, making sure that they are fully compliant, and they are not exposing themselves to cybersecurity risks.
“We urge businesses to be vigilant at all times about what software is being used across their networks and by whom,” commented Graham Kill, Executive Chairman and CEO of Cylynt Group. “The risks of using unlicensed software are significant in terms of financial penalties and potential criminal charges, the dangers of malware, possibility of data loss and downtime, reputational damage and so on.”
“We look to empower organizations to control the constant cyber threats and we work with our clients to ensure ‘Zero Dark Usage.’ This means protecting the ISVs from illegal use of their software, so that they understand how their software is being used and they keep the returns they’ve justly earned. For the users of the products, we look to ensure that only properly licensed software is on their networks to safeguard their compliance and that they are not exposing themselves to cybersecurity risks through pirate software.”
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