“80 per cent of govt agencies use unlicensed software”

Dr. Ebot Ebot Enaw, Director General of the National Agency for Information and Communication Technologies (ANTIC) spoke to Cameroon Tribune.

What is the extent of the use of unlicensed software and information network systems within State institutions?

As per the provisions of the law on cyber security and cybercrime, ANTIC is charged with auditing information systems and communication networks of government agencies and departments, telecommunications operators, Internet service providers and banks. Our audit reports reveal that about 80 per cent of government agencies and departments use unlicensed software.

This situation poses a security threat to our cyberspace in the sense that software have inherent vulnerabilities and security flaws. Software developers provide updates online, which are only available to licensed versions of these software leaving unlicensed software vulnerable to attacks. These well-documented vulnerabilities can be exploited by malicious individuals to gain unauthorised access to government computers and compromise the entire networks.

What consequences could emanate from such use?

Software piracy is a serious matter. In fact, unlicensed software is tempting, especially when it promises to save your organisation millions of francs CFA in licensing fees. However, by purchasing unlicensed software, not only are our ministries violating the law and the intellectual rights of software authors, they are also putting their computers at risk of damage and security threats. Consequences are many. Pirated software can cause computers to crash, damaging useful files and data in the process.

In the worst case scenario, unlicensed software could cause irreparable damage to computers and all other software installed. Some unlicensed software contain spyware which gets installed onto your computer and reports personal information without your knowledge.

This compromised data could include credit card and bank account numbers, passwords and address books, all of which can be immediately exploited by identity thieves. Software have inherent vulnerabilities which can be exploited by cybercriminal. Software vendors usually provide patches in order to fix these vulnerabilities.

However, these patches are only available to licensed versions, leaving unlicensed versions vulnerable to attacks. ANTIC has established a wide variety of norms, guidelines and a computerisation master plan of ministries, amongst others, unfortunately some ministries do not comply with the norms we have put in place.

How could the newly-commissioned Committee for the Technical and Compliance Control of Software Assets of the State, created by the PM, ensure that State institutions use licensed software?

We hope that the committee put in place by the Prime Minister will assist in ensuring compliance. The committee should provide clear guidelines and carry out regular audits to ensure compliance. These could include adopting written policies that prohibit the use of unlicensed software.

A software licensing policy that lays out a zero-tolerance stand on using pirated content or unlicensed software has to be published. Other measures could include keeping an active inventory of every software product in use and ever purchased by ministries, advising ministries to promptly delete any software found on their computers that is unlicensed or whose license cannot be verified, verifying the implementation of recommendations made by ANTIC’s computer security audit teams as well as verifying the application of security alerts provided by ANTIC’s Computer Incident Response Team.