Vietnam an avid user of unlicensed software: report

Vietnam has earned the dubious distinction of using unlicensed software at a higher rate than other countries in the Asia-Pacific region.

Results of a biennial survey conducted by BSA, The Software Alliance, show that while Vietnam’s rate of unauthorized software installation dropped 4 percentage points from 2015 to 74 percent in 2017, it remained high on the offenders list.

The BSA bills itself as the “leading advocate for the global software industry before governments and in the international marketplace.”

The index took into account the volume and value of unlicensed software installed on personal computers in 110 economies.

Japan and New Zealand were the shining stars in the Asia-Pacific region with the lowest rates of software copyright infringements at 16 percent, followed by Australia (18 percent), Singapore (23 percent) and South Korea (27 percent).

Alongside Vietnam, Thailand, Indonesia and the Philippines are among the four Southeast Asian countries with high rates of using unlicensed versions of patented software.

Vietnam’s slight improvement in the index ranking can be credited to tougher law enforcement by the Vietnamese government as it fights software copyright infringements, a BSA representative said at a news conference in Hanoi on Tuesday.

However Vietnamese internet users are still opting for unlicensed software at an alarming rate despite heightened cybersecurity risks and malware threats, the representative warned.

Last year, the use of unauthorized software in the country inflicted hefty losses on software development companies, which the BSA report estimates at $492 million.

More than half of Vietnam's population of nearly 92 million are online. In August 2016, Vietnam was the victim of cyber attacks on its two biggest airports.

The Vietnamese government has vowed to join the international community to fight all forms of cyber attacks on organizations or individuals, and to punish violations in accordance with the nation’s laws.