Security News > 2022 > June > Trio accused of selling $88m of pirated Avaya licenses

Three people accused of selling pirate software licenses worth more than $88 million have been charged with fraud.

To add phones and enable features such as voicemail, customers buy the necessary software licenses from an Avaya reseller or distributor.

In charges unsealed on Tuesday, it is alleged Brad Pearce, a 46-year-old long-time Avaya customer service worker, used his system administrator access to generate license keys tens of millions of dollars without permission.

Pearce, of Oklahoma, then sold those licenses to Jason Hines, 42, of New Jersey, and others who sold them onto resellers and customers worldwide, prosecutors claimed.

On top of this, Pearce is accused of using his admin privileges to get into internal accounts of former Avaya workers to generate more software keys.

Together the trio worked to undercut Avaya, selling the software below market price, it was alleged.

News URL

https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2022/06/29/avaya_piracy_doj_fbi/