From the article: > Prevention through basic cyber hygiene was simple: ... > do not use software products acquired illegally. So they may have unintentionall

From the article: > Prevention through basic cyber hygiene was simple: ... > do not use software products acquired illegally. So they may have unintentionally benefited the economy by discouraging people from using pirated software. However I don't know if the damage caused by the viruses exceeded the lost revenue from potential piracy, had the viruses not existed. Interesting.