Hacker News Reader

Does the basic security scanning the hacker was doing costs hundreds of millions for big companies? Because that's the fines some big companies are getting:

https://www.csoonline.com/article/3410278/the-biggest-data-b...

or at least tens of millions in the EU thanks to GDPR:

https://www.enforcementtracker.com/

We understand it's nothing compared to their profits but is it nothing compared to the cost of basic security?

View on HN

Equifax agreed to pay 600 million, but still saw profits up 20% for the year... Sure they could have made 600 million MORE in profit, but that's still just 15% of their profits for the year.. sure they'll spend a few million in the area they need to shore up one time and wait for the next incident... It's just good for business... Invest enough to keep these incidents down to one every 5 years, pay fine, repeat.

Scanning is pretty inexpensive. Maintaining a complex system that passes the scans? That's something different altogether.

If I take a clunker to a mechanic, how much will it cost me to hear everything that needs fixing? About $150. But actually performing the fixes? One order of magnitude greater - and that's if I'm very, very lucky!

Reply on news.ycombinator.com