About 28 percent of enterprise respondents reported security breaches causing network, computer or website outages occurring every few months or more with 65 percent 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.

The financial hazards are considerable, and the potential losses could leave once-profitable businesses on shaky ground, he added.

"Buying legitimate software is less expensive in the long run at least you know that you would not get anything 'extra' in the form of malware," Gantz said.

The global study surveyed 1,700 consumers, IT workers, CIOs and government officials in India, Brazil, China, France, Germany, Indonesia, Japan, Mexico, Poland, Russia, Singapore, Ukraine, the U.K. and the U.S.

The NUS forensics analyzed 203 new PCs loaded with pirated software and found that a staggering 61 percent of these PCs were pre-infected with unsafe malware, including Trojans, worms, viruses, hacktools, rootkits and adware.

These computers were acquired in Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, Mexico, Russia, South Korea, Thailand, Turkey, Ukraine, and the U.S.

"It is hugely concerning that brand new PCs are coming pre-infected with dangerous malware due to pirated software, making the users and companies readily vulnerable to security breaches," NUS Professor Biplab Sikdar said.

Whether an individual user, a small business, enterprise or even a government institution, all are encouraged to buy new computers from reputable sources to ensure they receive genuine software, he added.

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