Software Piracy Audit

Yes We have been through one. We needed to supply invoices for all of our software, not just the certificates. I was informed it was a security comm. The only software they were concerned with was Microsoft. A disgruntled employee reported us. I canonly emphasize that they are concerned about proof of purchase. (receipts,invoices)

In a company that I worked for, an Auditor physically visited each machine with a special auditing program that searched for the files by header information, so re-naming the files would not deceive the audit.

I have a friend who works for a software audit company named DBSA that's stablished in Venezuela. They go to audit companies when they are tipped off, and they always go with the police and an officer from the Public Ministry. They phisicaly search every machine and ask for the licenses of main software companies like Microsoft, Symantec and Adobe. When they arrive at the company to be inspected, the senior officer is called, a kind of search order is given to him and the police order the people to stay away from their machines. Then, one by one the machines are inspected in the presence of the senior officer, the employee and the Public Ministry officer. If pirate software is found, the company is fined arcording to the software brand andnormaly at this point is where the company's legal department comes to the action. My friend tells me that sometimes things get pretty rough and that police intevention is needed.