Sad reality: It's cheaper to get hacked than build strong IT defenses

Re:Sad reality: It's cheaper to get hacked than build strong... by nathanaldensr on Friday September 23, 2016 @12:51PM (#12566018)

"Cheaper" is not including the full cost of compromised data. Compromises don't only affect companies' bottom lines, but also those who were compromised. The costs to individuals are undoubtedly much harder to quantify.

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Re:Sad reality: It's cheaper to get hacked than build strong... by enraged_camel on Friday September 23, 2016 @01:20PM (#12566293)

I totally agree, but I think in this case they are saying it's cheaper for the company, which is what really matters in this context (since they're comparing it to how much the company would pay for security).

I mean, if the company's website gets hacked and your credit card data is stolen, then your card is charged $1,000, it's not the company that pays for it, right? You either talk to your bank to mark the purchase as fraudulent and get the charges reversed, or pay for it yourself (e.g. if it's a debit card).

Perhaps that's the solution though: a way to directly associate fraudulent purchases with security breaches where credit card data has been stolen, and a law that requires the breached party to pay all expenses related to that fraud. That would get all major retailers scramble to get their shit secured.

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Re:Sad reality: It's cheaper to get hacked than build strong... by nathanaldensr on Friday September 23, 2016 @03:03PM (#12567123)

Good point about what the article was comparing. I missed that.

I guess I'm just sour that articles like this tend to gloss over what is often the most important impact of a security breach--the end-users' data and privacy--and instead focus on easy-to-report numbers.

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Re:Sad reality: It's cheaper to get hacked than build strong... by M_Grey on Friday September 23, 2016 @01:27PM (#12566344)

Solution: Make it cost the company and keep them from passing along that cost to consumers.

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Re:Sad reality: It's cheaper to get hacked than build strong... by rodgerd on Friday September 23, 2016 @10:50PM (#12569207)

Oh, that sounds totally reasonable. What are you going to call the government agency which reviews the industry-wide acceptable pricing to determine what is the right price for a private business to charge consumers?

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Re:Sad reality: It's cheaper to get hacked than build strong... by M_Grey on Saturday September 24, 2016 @09:04AM (#12570776)

I don't think the name is the most important thing, do you?

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Re:Sad reality: It's cheaper to get hacked than build strong... by draw_down on Friday September 23, 2016 @02:25PM (#12566839)

Well, sure. I can only imagine companies are happy not to pay that cost and let customers continue to deal with it.

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