The costs of spyware
Network World's Mark Gibbs weighs in on the costs of spyware.
The cost of spyware
If you're starting to think these programs are dangerous, you're right. They often slow down browsing and overall PC performance, can make your system unstable, and waste huge amounts of time and money. And on top of that, hacker-type spyware easily can bypass every bit of security you have, creating horrendous security problems.
So what might spyware be costing you? We'll start by assuming a fully loaded user salary is $72,000 per year and there are 260 working days per year. If a spyware infection involves nothing more than getting rid of it when found, and that process takes the user and the support person she works with, say, two hours to fix, then we're looking at a cost per incident of:
($72,000/260 days)*((2 people * 2 hours)/(8 hours per day)) = $138.
In a 1,000-person organization with a spyware infection rate of 5% per month we would have some 600 cases per year for a total cost of around $83,000. And if a dialer goes into action that could be a low figure!