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US companies hit by 'colossal' cyber-attack

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341–350 of 514 posts

Re: US companies hit by 'colossal' cyber-attack

#341

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If the stock market has distorted the price of SolarWinds that badly, as per your analysis, that's probably a sign that the stock market is massively overvaluing everything, and that we're headed for a gigantic crash. Which by coincidence is exactly what Michael Burry, the guy who predicted the 2008 housing crash, has been saying recently.

Isn't inflation above gains essentially a devaluing of the market? If the stock market goes slightly down and inflation ramps up significantly isn't that the same as a crash?

Correct, and that is why you should always analyze inflation-adjusted returns for any long-term investment.

Re: US companies hit by 'colossal' cyber-attack

#342

Earlier quoted context omitted.

“After the Equifax breach, everyone learned that until there are actual repercussions for cyber attacks (like fines and people going to jail for negligence), if you can weather the storm, over the course of a year or two, there is effectively zero impact to your bottom line.” It’s even worse than just weathering a storm. Lax security has been incentivized. The Equifax CEO, Richard Smith, stepped down shortly after th…

It's almost as if making shareholder returns and CEO pay the only indicator of company success creates terrible consequences.

Long term shareholder returns are directly correlated to the long term company success.

It's always such an odd criticism to think of "shareholder returns" as a pejorative.

Re: US companies hit by 'colossal' cyber-attack

#343
post #234

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If the stock market has distorted the price of SolarWinds that badly, as per your analysis, that's probably a sign that the stock market is massively overvaluing everything, and that we're headed for a gigantic crash. Which by coincidence is exactly what Michael Burry, the guy who predicted the 2008 housing crash, has been saying recently.

I've been hearing the "we're headed for a crash" thing with the same logic since at least mid-2019. Either we're not heading for a crash, or the market has become so irrational that it doesn't even matter any more, and we can build castles in the air forever.

In 2005 it was clear to some thay the market was heading for a crash, but it can take years.

Re: US companies hit by 'colossal' cyber-attack

#344
post #192

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wonder how much of a human element is involved in each individual hack. I would have thought the sticky note, encryption, payment & decryption was all automated.

As I understand it there is often a lot of discourse that takes place between the hacker and the hacked - agreeing prices, haggling, proof of files etc. Yes much can be automated but there is usually a human element to these deals and that costs the hackers money. They also want to be careful to limit their hacks to companies their handlers are happy for them to hack. Go too wide and you risk hitting a company direct…

You'd think a GPT3 / GAN could be created to handle much of that. It's a percentages game anyway.

Re: US companies hit by 'colossal' cyber-attack

#345

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Isn't inflation above gains essentially a devaluing of the market? If the stock market goes slightly down and inflation ramps up significantly isn't that the same as a crash?

The most expensive and valued stocks are "essentials" they dann just increase there price with inflation. I dont understand the problem with inflation..

Inflation is not a problem; unexpected changes in the rate of inflation are the problem. There are various reasons, but the most important is that a spike in the inflation rate leads to a spike in interest rates, which is generally harmful to businesses (loans are harder to repay, customers are less able to buy, etc.). There is also a second-order effect: rising interest rates reduce the value of long-dated bonds, which reduces the available investment capital (or worse, it can trigger margin calls and create a "contagion" effect).

Re: US companies hit by 'colossal' cyber-attack

#346
post #309
post #279

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ransomware is not an innovation that came as a result of cryptocurrency, it was just accelerated by it. If you kill cryptocurrency, I guarantee the only thing it will do is increase the amount of the average ransom, because they will be harder to pay and to receive. Also, ransomware is a drop in the bucket compared to other attacks like business email compromise, which often go unreported.

You might be invested in crypto. But that should not prevent you from seeing simple reasons and accepting that crypto helps crime. Would you?

So does cash, but its not like I'm clamoring to outlaw that.

Re: US companies hit by 'colossal' cyber-attack

#347
post #201

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's a para-state agency; while Americans don't have ID cards because they're afraid of surveillance, a private company having a complete database of everyone and veto power over mortgages is fine because it's a private company.

The existence of credit scores has tangible benefits that we take for granted. Without such databases we would all pay much higher interest rates and many more people would be denied loans. Very wealthy people would have little trouble, but low- and middle-income people would find it far more difficult to buy a house or a car. The reason it is better to be run by a private company than the government is not that surv…

As seen from another capitalist country, namely Switzerland, I take the "higher interest" rates as a tired argumentative "canard". It's a false idea perpetrated by lobbyists.

We don't have such databases. The difference here is that the bank's mortgage divisions have much lower profits, because checking somebody out is actually done by humans. It costs the credit provider more. US style mortgage broker do not exist.

Low- and Middle- income people here do not have houses because of high real estate prices due to very restrictive zoning (the country is small), and on average much, much, much more expensive construction than in the US. Here people expect a fully concrete house, near-to-passive level insulation, with 30-40 years free of any big renovation.

In conclusion: we do without an Equifax just fine.

Re: US companies hit by 'colossal' cyber-attack

#348
post #201

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's a para-state agency; while Americans don't have ID cards because they're afraid of surveillance, a private company having a complete database of everyone and veto power over mortgages is fine because it's a private company.

There's three companies doing it, so they possess the holy blessings of the all-knowing market \s

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Re: US companies hit by 'colossal' cyber-attack

#349
post #68

After the Equifax breach, everyone learned that until there are actual repercussions for cyber attacks (like fines and people going to jail for negligence), if you can weather the storm, over the course of a year or two, there is effectively zero impact to your bottom line. You can also see this in the Solarwinds stock price. Year over year, they are down a hair under 4 percent... After being directly responsible for…

“After the Equifax breach, everyone learned that until there are actual repercussions for cyber attacks (like fines and people going to jail for negligence), if you can weather the storm, over the course of a year or two, there is effectively zero impact to your bottom line.” It’s even worse than just weathering a storm. Lax security has been incentivized. The Equifax CEO, Richard Smith, stepped down shortly after th…

Stupid me never learned the trick of failing upwards.

Re: US companies hit by 'colossal' cyber-attack

#350

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You'd think that one of the credit bureaus responsible for maintaining the most sensitive data, and making it difficult for people to get affordable housing would be a government institution, but nope.

Would you rather have a government agency assign credit scores? The abuses would be rampant. Right now there is one party openly pushing to restrict voting access to people who are likely to vote for the other party, and a few years ago that same party enacted a new tax code that almost surgically penalized the residents of states that supported the other party; do you really trust such politicians to set up a fair c…

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