Australia gov wants telco Optus to pay for new passports for data breach victims
I&#x27;m furious about this data breach. I think our laws need to be updated to make sloppy security an existential threat to businesses. Optus should be fined by the australian government within an inch of their life. Its not ok to profit from sloppy security work then leave regular people to pick up the tab when it goes wrong.<p>And we need to put other companies with terrible security on notice. I think the only way big companies will move is by making their executive team sweat money.<p>Thats how it works everywhere else in the economy - if your negligence causes harm, you&#x27;re liable. Serve bad food in a restaurant? Sued. Sell sporting equipment which causes injury? Sued. Misrepresent yourself? Sued, and potential criminal charges. Medical malpractice? Sued. But somehow, if your sloppy software causes harm thats ok? What rubbish. Security malpractice should bear the same punishment as everything else.<p>Maybe the price of paid software will go up. Thats fine. Maybe there aren&#x27;t enough qualified security engineers. Also, fine.<p>If you don&#x27;t have the expertise to manufacture a safe car, we&#x27;ve decided you can&#x27;t enter the car business at all. Likewise, if you don&#x27;t have the technical skill to keep my data secure, you have no business storing my data at all.