MS Korea desperate to stop illegal sales of leaked Windows 10

This captured image shows Windows 10 being sold for 2,500 won at Coupang, about one percent of the original cost. / Captured from Coupang

By Jun Ji-hye

Microsoft Korea is struggling to fight the illegal sales of leaked product keys of its Windows 10 operating system and other software, company officials said Tuesday. The firm's efforts, however, are facing difficulties as it is hard to detect where product keys are being leaked from, and illegal sales are already rampant on online shopping platforms such as Coupang and TMON.

To activate Windows 10 features completely, users require a product key, which can be bought in the Microsoft store and other official stores for around 200,000 won ($164).

But a considerable number of sellers at online shopping platforms are offering the keys at prices as low as 2,500 won, about one percent of the original price.

A Microsoft Korea official said if the prices are ridiculously cheap, users should doubt whether the sellers have secured the keys through official channels, warning that software installed through abnormal routes will harm PC performance and offer less security as users will have difficulty accessing Microsoft's upgrade services in the future.

The leaked product keys have become prevalent online. For example, an employee of an education institution could sell the product keys to online sellers when their institution purchases a set of software and product keys on a large scale for educational purposes.

"It is almost impossible to know where products keys are leaked from as Windows is a widely used operating system and there are too many leakage cases," the Microsoft Korea official said. "Product keys distributed through online shopping platforms are mostly unfit for general consumers and are vulnerable to security issues."

As part of the firm's efforts to counter the situation, it has asked Coupang, TMON and other online shopping platforms to cooperate in monitoring and controlling the illegal sales.

"We have sent official letters to online shopping platforms and asked them to take appropriate steps to prohibit illegal sales," another official from Microsoft Korea said.

Microsoft Korea is attempting to control illegal sales of software at a time when demand for Windows 10 is consistently growing following the firm's announcement that the company will end its 10-year technical support for Windows 7 by January 2020.

According to data by market researcher StatCounter last month, 29 percent of PCs in Korea still use Windows 7, meaning there are still plenty of potential consumers for Windows 10.

Site Map E-paper Subscribe Register LogIn
Site Map E-paper Subscribe Register LogIn