Study Finds Computer Viruses and Hacking Take $1.6 Trillion Toll on Worldwide Economy

[InfoSec News <isn () C4I ORG>]

http://news.excite.com/news/pr/000707/ny-study-viruses

JERICHO, N.Y., July 7 /PRNewswire/ -- The explosion of computer
viruses -- ranging from Melissa last fall to the Love Bug this spring
to other potent software toxins ranging from Timonfonica to the Kak
Worm to Gnutella Worm -- will cost businesses around the globe more
than $1.5 trillion this year, according to a just-released study.

A global survey of 4,900 Information Technology professionals across
30 nations, conducted by InformationWeek Research and fielded by
PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, to be released on July 10th, estimates
that some 50,000 firms in the U.S. are sufficiently large enough to be
impacted by and accurately tally up the cost of a software virus. In
total, the bill to these U.S. firms this year for viruses and computer
hacking will amount to $266 billion, or more than 2.5% of the nation's
Gross Domestic Product (GDP). The price tag worldwide soars to $1.6
trillion.

"These estimates are based on the broadest sampling ever achieved in
the security industry," noted Rusty Weston, Editor of InformationWeek
Research and informationweek.com. "The findings indicate that viruses
are far more disruptive to organizations than most people realize.
Lost productivity will undoubtedly force many IT organizations to
reassess their network defenses and security policies."

According to John DiStefano, principal researcher on the study at
Reality Research & Consulting, which assisted InformationWeek Research
on the project, the $266 billion figure represents the impact of
viruses on U.S. businesses with more than 1,000 employees, or about
50,000 firms. "These are companies with infrastructures of IT
professionals who, because of the dollar impact, are increasingly
tracking the problem and can provide an accurate assessment of the
scope of the issue. In reality, the true impact of viruses on U.S.
business, including medium-sized companies and small businesses, is
much greater," DiStefano explained.

DiStefano went on to explain that the key costs involved in correcting
IT systems infected by a virus are found in lost productivity as a
result of downtime for the computer systems, as well as lost sales
opportunities. In North America technology professionals this year
will suffer system downtime of 3.24%, while downtime rises to 3.28% on
a worldwide basis. To look at the impact another way, the study found
that this year alone 6,882 and 39,363 person years of productivity
will be lost in North America and Worldwide, respectively.

Viruses and the hackers that deploy them were once viewed as clever
pranksters; then nuisances but no longer. "Whenever any activity
amounts to 2.7% of the total U.S. GDP, Wall Street takes notice," said
DiStefano. "Information technology now runs businesses around the
globe. Whatever stops the computer systems stops business. So what
would have won you fame, and quite possibly a job offer a decade ago
is now a sure ticket to legal action and criminal penalties.

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