Government could lose billions due to Malware

As much as pirating software is illegal and punishable by the law still a majority of people in different parts of the world practice it and this has become the most serious issue globally because it’s unacceptable and wrong to illegally use or copy software without purchasing the software legally. This act of immoral behaviour got the government blowing out a lot of cash and these days it’s more than just hacking consumer PCs, home and business network, copying or sharing someone’s work. Cybercriminals are starting to depend on software piracy industry to leave the ‘security backdoor’ open, enabling them to more easily steal identities, passwords and banking details.

The study, titled The link Between Pirated Software and Cybersecurity Breaches is a joint study conducted by IDC and the National University of Singapore, working with government officials within countries ranging from Brazil to the United States. About 203 PCs were purchased in Brazil, China and other countries were pre infected with unsafe malware including hacktools, viruses and Trojans which has expressed concerns over tireless cybercriminals employed malware that are embedded within PCs that are running pirated software. It has been suspected to be sold to consumers or companies. According to the study global enterprises are expected to spend nearly $500 billion this year in order to deal with issues caused by malware deliberately loaded onto pirated software.

Whilst $127 billion is expected to be spent on security issues and $364 million would be spent on dealing with data breaches. When it comes to consumers they are expected to spend $25 billion and waste 1.2 billion hours this year alone because of security threats and costly computer fixes from malware pirated software. And primary concerns for these institutions were the loss of business trade secrets or competitive information (59%), unauthorised access to confidential government information (55%) as the government could lose about $50 billion due to them having to deal with the costs associated to malware pirated software.

On top of that the study revealed that 60% of surveyed said that their biggest fear from infected software is the loss of data whether in form of file or personal information. Followed by the fear of data of internet transactions (51%) and hijacking of email, social networks and bank accounts (50%) though (43%) of those same respondents did not install security updates which indicates that as much as there are fearful of malware viruses but still they leave PCs vulnerable to cybercriminal attacks.

Two best ways to avoid purchasing malware-infested PCs

         ·        Whether you are an individual user, a company or even government make sure you buy new PCs from credible reputable sources to ensure that you receive authentic software.

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                  You can visit www.howtotell.com or http://www.microsoft.com to know more about malware    and in order to protect your family or business from malware associated with pirated  counterfeit software and to be able to have access to the tools needed to remove the      infection rather a virus.   

              Article by +Molly Dimpho