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Operation Cyber Strike
FBI agents and computer software company representatives recently served search warrants in eight states where an undercover investigation revealed significant software piracy activity.
This pilot program, dubbed "Cyber Strike" (the FBI always has these nifty code names), was created in response to the Business Software Alliance's claim that about 26% of all computer software in use within the United States is pirated.
Business Software, a trade group, believes this illegal activity costs the American software industry an estimated $8 billion in losses annually.
Examiners have their own anti-piracy programs. They often ask for your computer software programs' documentation, warranties, site licensing agreements and usage logs. One examiner found a bank with 900 active users and a 100 person site license.
If the examiners find discrepancies, they can refer your institution to the software maker, the Business Software Alliance, the FBI or the local prosecuting agency's consumer fraud division.
Take a clue from Cyber Strike and comply with software licensing agreements and develop a means to monitor your institution's compliance - you may save your institution from an ugly public relations problem.
Copyright © 1997 Bankers' Hotline. Originally appeared in Bankers' Hotline, Vol. 7, No. 4, 3/97
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