Microsoft has conducted a PC purchasing probe and examined a total of 166 new PCs from nine Asian markets, including India, Korea, Singapore, and Vietnam, and has found that four in five, which is approximately 83 percent, brand new PCs in these targeted countries are loaded with pirated software which makes these machines a fertile ground for Cybercriminals to exploit. The PC samples selected were purchased from retailers that offered computers at much lower prices, bundled with free software to lure customers. In several cases, these retailers also sold pirated software at their stores. “Cybercriminals are constantly evolving their techniques to evade security measures, and embedding their malware into pirated software is one of their tactics as it allows them to compromise large numbers of PCs and access vast amount of stolen credentials with ease. When vendors sell pirated software containing malware in their PCs, they are not only fueling the spread of malware in the region b...