According to the research, 35 percent of computers run at least one illegal program, with computer users in China and Russia the worst offenders (with over 80 percent of computers running pirated software). Experts note that pirated software can leave business networks open to attack as cybercriminals are provided with an additional route to infection.
"Putting aside the obvious legal issues, piracy can have a real impact on a company in terms of security," said Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant at Sophos. "It's not enough to make sure that all PCs are running legitimate copies of Word, businesses must also control what programs their employees are downloading, installing and running. Patching against software vulnerabilities is key to any good IT security policy, but with pirated software this becomes near impossible. Pirated software downloaded from dodgy Web sites or bought from a man in an alleyway will not come with technical support, and may even be virus infected."
According to Sophos, running pirated software on corporate networks can also have severe repercussions on the network infrastructure, hogging valuable bandwidth and network resources.
"Businesses simply cannot afford to ignore piracy," continued Cluley. "The corporate network is the backbone of any company and if you allow users to run anything they like on it, whether illegal or not, you shouldn't be surprised when it breaks."
