Panels & Furniture Asia November/December 2021

FURNITURE MANUFACTURING
Risks of using
pirated software
By Graham Rutter, international business development,
Cabinet Vision South East Asia.
Software piracy is not a new issue, and has been
around for a long time. However, the risks for end
users are greatly increasing for several reasons.
When using counterfeit software, one of these
risks includes breaking the law, as it is the user’s
responsibility to ensure genuine software is used.
Another risk is that the initial savings of using
pirated software can be obliterated in a single
security breach or incident, leading to loss of
production or requiring expensive remedies.
Furthermore, there is also a risk of exposing the
user’s computer and other computers in the
network to potential viruses. Pirated software
is usually tweaked for the software to function.
These changes can affect the computer system
and other genuine software programmes on
their computer, leading to serious damage to its
motherboard and hard drive — not to mention
the loss of data, information and productivity
while repairs are being completed, and files
being recovered on the infected systems.
In the woodworking industry, users risk
damaging their computer numerical control
(CNC) machine if they use computer-aided
manufacturing (CAM) features of pirated
software which has not been configured for
the CNC machine and tooling information. This
damage can be costly to fix, not including the
machine downtime and lost production output.
Back up support, training and the latest
software updates are just a few of the benefits
users will miss out on if they choose to use
pirated software in their business. The benefits
of implementing genuine software can only be
realised to their full potential through proper
training and implementation. Cabinet Vision
South East Asia, a distributor of software
products for the woodworking industry, offers
computer-aided design (CAD)/CAM softwares,
particularly CABINET VISION and ALPHACAM,
which can be customised and have different
ways of achieving results.
Businesses must be aware of their responsibility
in this to ensure they are not using pirated
software. Software companies are investing
more and more to combat software piracy for
the protection of customers and intellectual
property, to strengthen economies, protect
jobs and stimulate technological advancement.
CABINET VISION and ALPHACAM, as part of
Hexagon Manufacturing Intelligence, use
technical protective measures (TPM) to identify
illegal uses of the software. This approach has
detected numerous breaches of the software
licences around the world, making businesses
become compliant with genuine software. P
References:
1. Hexagon Manufacturing Intelligence. About Software Privacy,
44 Panels & Furniture Asia | November / December 2021