The Vietnam Intellectual Property Association (VIPA) and the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI), in co-operation with the Software Alliance (BSA), held a workshop titled “Opportunities for businesses to explore legally and efficiently using software” in Hanoi on August 29.In his opening remarks, VIPA Chairman Mai Ha said that "As Vietnam integrates internationally, compliance with international laws becomes more imperative. This requires businesses, in particular, to closely adhere to laws and observe fair competition rules."
Gary Gan, director of the Compliance program for Asia-Pacific, BSA
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As cyber security attacks targeting major Vietnamese organisations and businesses are increasing, Gary Gan, director of the Compliance program for Asia-Pacific, BSA, underscored that there was strong connection between the use of illegal or unlicensed software and malware attacks or cyber attacks.
“The first advice for Vietnamese businesses is to use licensed software. This enables you to have the latest patches from the software companies, regardless of which ones you use whether it is Microsoft, Adobe, Autodesk, etc. This will allow you to first of all be quick in identifying a cyber attack when it happens and able to deal with it effectively.”
The director also detailed the Software Asset Management toolkit that allows companies or businesses to conduct an assessment of the software they have.
“What that means is traditionally, when people think of software, they think it is the responsibility of the management or IT manager. But I would say that now with everyone using mobile phones, laptops and the internet, everyone has access to different types of software, so everyone needs to know what they’re using, how they’re using it, what risks they’re exposing themselves to, and when there’s an instance of an attack, how to identify it quickly and again, be able to deal with it effectively,” he said.
Inspection activities took place at 55 businesses, with 1.38 billion VND in administrative fines levied in the first eight months of this year alone. In addition to being able to steer clear of legal risks, probably the most important benefit of using licensed software is that it can improve efficiency and information security for businesses.
