Enterprises worldwide are expected to spend nearly $500 billion this year to deal with problems related to malware and data breaches, a new study says. According to the joint study conducted by IDC and the National University of Singapore (NUS), enterprises may have to spend $127 billion on security issues and $364 billion dealing with data breaches.

Global consumers, on the other hand, are expected to spend $25 billion and waste 1.2 billion hours this year because of security threats and costly computer fixes stemming from malware on pirated software.

The study, titled “The Link Between Pirated Software and Cybersecurity Breaches” found 60 per cent respondents (consumers) saying their greatest fear from infected software is loss of data, files or personal information. This is followed by unauthorised Internet transactions (51 per cent) and hijacking of email, social networking and bank accounts (50 per cent).

“Cybercriminals are profiting from any security lapse they can find, with financially devastating results for everyone,” Microsoft Cybercrime Center Executive Director and Associate General Counsel David Finn said.

The study was released as part of Microsoft’s ‘Play It Safe’ campaign, a global initiative to create greater awareness of the connection between malware and piracy. The study stated that nearly two-thirds of enterprises surveyed said they could lose $315 billion at the hands of organised criminals. Nearly 20 per cent of the pirated software in enterprises is installed by employees, it added.

About 28 per cent of enterprise respondents reported security breaches causing network, computer or website outages occurring every few months or more with 65 per cent of those outages involved malware on end-user computers.

“Using pirated software is like walking through a field of landmines: You don’t know when you will come upon something nasty, but if you do it can be very destructive,” IDC Chief Researcher John Gantz said.