Online piracy, everything you must know

11th July 2022

The world is getting more digitized every day and although this results in lots of possibilities for organizations, it might also be harmful. Did you know that your company can be the aim of a pirate attack every single moment of the day? Online piracy is a common illegal way in which, in the end, the identity of your brand and your revenue will decrease. There are several ways in which online piracy can take place and we would like to elaborate on the different kinds. We’ll tell you everything; please read beneath!

 

Piracy on the internet

Internet piracy happens when software is illegally downloaded from the internet. There are a few common manners that make internet piracy available. Firstly, it happens a lot that websites will get available on where illegal downloads are offered. Another way in which internet piracy can occur, are networks on which peers can be in contact. Hereby can be thought of as forums; it happens often that within a forum, illegal documents for downloading are offered.

 

Counterfeiting

Counterfeiting is a type of piracy in which documents (books, published articles, videos, online course materials) are illegally duplicated by companies and offered via other websites. The duplication of these documents is often illegal, because the content has a copyright of the owner.

 

End user piracy

Another manner of piracy occurs; particular people are illegally copying software or documents. Hereby can be thought of the sharing of license codes, so that other people also can make use of the software; taking profit of discount codes and sharing these with people without those people having consent to use the code or copying discs for downloading a software package, such as Microsoft word- excel, which later on is used by other particulars who also would like to use the software package.

 

What to do when finding out your company is the target of pirate attacks?

So, piracy happens in a lot of different ways and on a lot of different platforms. But what can you do when you find out your organization is the aim of such an attack? That people are copying your products without consent? It might be wise to engage with an anti-piracy company! These are companies who can monitor potential pirate attacks and also attack those pirate actions if such an action indeed occurs. There are several companies playing the market; a company offering good quality is Onsist.com, who has already assisted over 700 companies with attacking piracy!