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I'm not sure whether I really agree with the singular focus on the CEO or C*O, but often one of the reasons that is given for their large paychecks is that they carry a lot of responsibilities. Following that, it would seem prudent to actually hold them responsible when something goes wrong, especially something with as much impact as a large-scale data breach.

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Why would we hold them responsible for something going wrong if what went wrong wasn't their responsibility?

I've known a few CEOs (not personally) and not one of them was in charge of anyone who had these types of responsibilities, directly or indirectly.

Plenty of C-level and director types have large paychecks. To randomly place blame because of that would only make matters worse. Those responsible would have a convenient scapegoat, and CEOs would just demand higher salaries as compensation for taking on risks outside of their control.

Honestly, the whole "get the CEO" movement has always smacked of intellectual dishonesty to me, as though catharsis were in any way a decent value to base public policy on.

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