The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has issued a clarification on the news aired by a leading news channel regarding the use of pirated software for its systems.
According to details, FBR has clarified that IT services for Federal and Provincial tax authorities such as FBR, SRB, PRA etc. are being provided by PRAL which also includes maintaining the data centres. In the data centres, numerous software products are being used to perform different functions such as cyber security, virtualisation, and firewall. Key companies whose products are being utilized include Oracle, Microsoft, VMware and Kaspersky.
FBR has clarified that the licensed versions of this software have been procured. Further information was given that the original license of the product remains intact if the support to the software expires. However, at times support for these services may not get renewed in a timely fashion due to unavoidable circumstances.
FBR explained that in the year 2019, the issue of VMware licensing was raised by US Government, which was addressed by procuring the requisite licenses after following relevant procedures as laid down in PPRA rules. For over a year no such issue regarding VMware has cropped up, FBR added.
