Software Licensing

The use of unlicensed software is illegal, and whilst the majority of organisations would not condone it, the vast majority are believed to be using unlicensed software to some extent. In many cases, software piracy occurs unintentionally; for example a genuinely licensed program is copied for use on multiple workstations.

It is common practice for software vendors to permit customers to 'try before they buy'. In this case, they offer the software as 'shareware' and propose a trial of say, 30 days. At the expiration of the 30 day period, and depending upon the ingenuity of the developer, the software can refuse to load without the input of a valid licence key; or it can continue to run as normal or can require the continue depression of a button to signify your understanding of the terms of the licence.

Unlicensed software is major threat to an organisation's Information Security because, not only does this jeopardize the legal position, it also threatens the data held on such systems as no support will be provided.

The End User License Agreement - EULA is normally seen during the install process of the software.