Why You Should Think Twice About That Free Software

Oct 10

College textbooks are notoriously expensive. Every semester, university students near and far scramble to avoid paying for their required reading, even if it means spending 15 hours a semester making copies or trading textbooks in private Facebook groups. Encountering this behavior on campus is not unusual; experiencing it in the workplace is also not uncommon – but the damage it can cause can be devastating. Many users or office administrators looking to cut costs will turn to free versions of standard workplace software. Why pay the total price when you can download a free program that does the same job? Well, here are a few reasons why you should think twice about downloading that free software.

Compliance Concerns

We’ve encountered many workspaces that utilize free software as a substitute for Microsoft Office. We immediately require that these clients purchase access to the real McCoy. Why? These “free substitutes” are riddled with user issues and introduce both legal and security risks for environments that manage sensitive data. When hackers break into a program to make it accessible, they are also removing its security measures and creating an open vulnerability. Sure, you got in through the backdoor, but now so can anyone else. If you work in an industry that has compliance requirements, cutting costs here could potentially compromise a compliant workspace and cost you more in the long run.

Questionable Reliability

Free software may not have centralized management or a dedicated team of developers to fix any issues. When the software runs into a bug or isn’t updated, there isn’t much you can do. It’s essential to remember that cybersecurity is an ever-changing field, so lacking up-to-date security is very troubling. Many third-party vendors do not offer warranties and liability, so if things go south you won’t have much in the way of support and recourse. If you do opt for free software, be sure that it aligns with your company’s software procurement policies.

Is It Secure?

There is a measure of risk associated with using any software. However, free or even open-source software (OSS) presents its unique risks. Anyone can view or potentially exploit the code for most OSS, and if no one on your team knows how to use open-source software, then even the process of vetting software for security risks can become complicated. You may recall the Heartbleed Bug, a vulnerability that took center stage in 2014 that can be traced to a single line of code in OpenSSL. The same bug was associated with an attack that stole vital patient data from Community Health Systems. And while you can track the CVE or National Vulnerability Database, updates can be undependable and will mean little to nothing if you are unfamiliar with the software.

Free software can often be laden with “back door” opportunities for cybercriminals to exploit, even if the website you are downloading off of includes a disclosure that they don’t allow malicious software. Free software will often bundle in other players since they can make money by selling subscriptions with every download. Don’t believe us? Check out this great experiment by How to Geek. A single software download resulted in over three browser hi-jacking extensions and one fake registry cleaner.

Free software sounds nice, and there are many benefits to OSS. However, when in the workspace, it’s safer to think twice before downloading.