Australia’s Hacking Mega-Fines Are Good Politics And Terrible Policy
In the wake of major cyber security breaches at Optus and Medicare, the Australian government has announced new mega financial penalties for victims.
Imagine your home is broken into.
While in your home, the thieves steal your address book, your family’s passports, driver’s licences, medicare cards and medical receipts.
The government had required you to collect some of these documents because your family members had stayed in your house one night. Others were amassed in the normal course of file keeping. Your family members knowingly and intentionally gave you this information to hold.
The thieves then contact you, seeking to extort more money from you in exchange for their promise to destroy the stolen documents.
You warn your family members their details have been stolen from your home.
You call the police to report the crime.
The police note that you don’t have a high grade security door or reinforced steel bars on your windows.
The mayor goes on local radio and blames you for being robbed.
