Thailand ranks among the top 10 countries in Asia-Pacific for the number of malware attacks because of high rates of software piracy and internet use, Microsoft says.
"Thailand is still one of the countries across the region most at risk of malware threats, behind Bangladesh, Indonesia and Vietnam," said Keshav Dhakad, assistant general counsel and regional director for the digital crimes unit of Microsoft Asia.
The threat risk here is comparable to conditions in the Philippines and Bangladesh, he said, while Hong Kong, Japan and Singapore are at the lowest risk of malware attacks.
Citing a National University of Singapore study entitled "Cybersecurity Risks From Non-Genuine Software", Mr Dhakad said cyber criminals are compromising computers by embedding malware in pirated software CDs and DVDs and online channels such as BitTorrent, which is a highly effective way to transfer files over the internet.
The study analysed about 90 new PCs running pirated software in Thailand and seven other countries.
It found that 92% of new computers installed with non-genuine software were infected by malware.
In 2016, the Asia-Pacific commercial market of non-genuine software hit US$19billion.
Concerns about pirated software did not focus on the economic loss -- it focused on the damage caused by cyber security risks, Mr Dhakad said.
"In Thailand, the software piracy rate in 2016 was at 70%," he said.
Hackers and organised cyber criminals are skilful at exploiting information technology vulnerabilities and human error to compromise computers for malicious and financial purposes.
Cyber crime is forecast to cause $6 trillion in losses to the global economy by 2021.
The study found that trojans, a kind of malicious computer program, were the most common category of high-risk cyber threats encountered in pirate software.
Trojans are spread by installing a backdoor to hack into a computer by misleading users of its true intent, then hackers can access user's confidential information, modify firewall settings and delete or encrypt the data.
Mr Dhakad said the WannaCry ransomware attacks have raised awareness of cyber security and showed how perilous outdated and patched software is.
Michael Montoya, chief cybersecurity adviser to Microsoft Asia, said Microsoft is the second target attack for global hackers because the company has lot of user based products. The company assumed the attacks would occur, but it has already prepared for any incident with data backup.
Microsoft also spent $1 billion annually in research and development in security, including investment in the emerging malware threats.
The company found there are 425,000 new malware attacks per month. Seventy-seven percent of the attacks came firstly from phishing emails, 90% of the victims used outdated software, and 63% of users' passwords were stolen.
According to the study, there were 992 ransomware attacks each day, which was an increase of 34% per quarter. Eighty-nine percent of violations had financial motive, by which organisations spent more than 17 months before detecting the Ransomware.
The damage loss from breach of each organisation is estimated to be $4 million.