We are seeing a rise in software audits in the Engineering Software vertical. Just last week one of our clients was being Audited by Ansys.
There are two main reasons for Audits:
- Combat software piracy
- Contract Non–compliance
Both can result in fines and are driven as a source of revenue generation. So what are the differences and where do they originate from?
Software Piracy Audit
Where do these originate from:-
- Whistleblower or ex-employees. – Pirated/ ‘cracked’ licenses and over-installing on multiple workstations (Think Shadow IT).
- Social media – LinkedIn profiles are an easy target.
- CV databases – Vendors can ask for a ‘voluntary software audit’, but this can pretty quickly turn into a targeted investigation.
Non-compliance Audit
Where do these originate from:
- Exceeding the scope of the license (EULA) – Using student or ‘home-use’ licenses for commercial work
- Vendor reporting technology – ‘Phone home’ mechanisms; report how many installs on a network
- Software use in unauthorized geographic zone – IP address analysis from ‘Phone home’ mechanisms
Stay tuned for our other posts on software audits.
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