The use of counterfeit and pirated software in the workplace is costing enterprises more than $114 billion each year, according to a study conducted by analyst firm International data Corp. for software maker Microsoft.
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Equally alarming is the fact that according to IT managers and CIOs, only 15 per cent of software installed by employees were problem free.
“They have the costs of replicating security problems – infected computers infecting others – perhaps bringing down the whole network, Web site or IT system,” IDC said.
The analyst firm noted that in a research for the Business Software Alliane it conducted in China in 20111 it found pirated software caused system-wide outages or slowdowns nearly once a month for the average sized organization. The cost per outage was estimated at $100,000.
The costs identified in the IDC study did not include fines and penalties from government or industry bodies and well as legal costs and lawsuit settlements.
Enterprise organizations are also failing to remedy the problem. For instance, only 10 per cent of IT managers and CIOs said they have disabled programs that provide automated software updates.
A full third of IT managers and CIOs said they don’t audit end-user PCs for user-installed software or do this audit only one a year.
