{"id":33070,"date":"2013-03-07T10:54:58","date_gmt":"2013-03-07T08:54:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=33070"},"modified":"2013-03-07T10:56:48","modified_gmt":"2013-03-07T08:56:48","slug":"warning-the-cost-of-piracy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/software\/33070\/warning-the-cost-of-piracy\/","title":{"rendered":"Warning: The cost of piracy"},"content":{"rendered":"

According to a new study by the IDC<\/a>, businesses across the globe are spending billions of dollars fighting viruses and malware-induced cyber attacks brought on through the use of pirated software – South Africa included.<\/p>\n

The study, commissioned by Microsoft<\/a>, found that the chances of infection by unexpected malware are one in three for consumers, and three in 10 for businesses.<\/p>\n

As a result of these infections, consumers will spend an estimated 1.5 billion hours and $22 billion identifying, repairing and recovering from the impact of malware – while businesses will spend around $114 billion to deal with the impact of malware-induced cyber-attacks.<\/p>\n

\u201cInherent dangers lurk for consumers and businesses that take a chance on counterfeit software. Some people choose counterfeit to save money, but this \u2018ride-along\u2019 malware ends up putting a financial and emotional strain on both the enterprise and casual computer users alike,\u201d the IDC said.<\/p>\n

South Africa not exempt<\/h3>\n

Although the IDC survey did not include South Africa, an informal survey run by Microsoft SA found that close to a third of respondents had unknowingly installed pirated software on their computers in the past two years, causing them to spend time and money recovering from the impact.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is costing businesses time and money to fix problems relating to pirated software \u2013 time and money which could have been spent on growing small businesses, employing employees and adding to the economy,\u201d said Mteto Nyati<\/a>, managing director at Microsoft SA.<\/p>\n

\"Mteto<\/a>

Mteto Nyati<\/p><\/div>\n

The issue goes further, the Microsoft SA lead said, as local software and computer dealers are also being impacted by pirates<\/p>\n

Other SA survey highlights:<\/p>\n