70s and 80s yes. Not so much the 90s. Those were the salad years. Glasnost, the end of the cold war, the Internet… Everything was looking so positive. Hell, even the music was happier (although that might be selection bias).

The 70s and 80s were terrifying by comparison.

ItTs jUsT a cOmMoN cHiLdHoOD ILlNeSs !!1! 🤮

All good… I mistook the attribution of intent.

But they’ll just slow drip the release anyway, going back for more and more ransom if they do pay.

I guess my thing is (not knowing the company from Adam) I’d assume they’d rather not have the kid’s info released rather than simply not caring about it. Being hacked doesn’t necessarily mean they’re careless - I think that is what I was trying to convey.

I’m almost solely responsible for cyber security at my job. I do my best, make the case for better protections, and secure things as best I can. If we got ransomwared, I’d be tempted to blow my head off. I have to get it right every single time. They have to get right or lucky just once.

My understanding of your first sentence in the first comment was that you were saying that the hackers were trying to ‘intimidate the group (the company) into protecting the privacy of the children’.

That is what I based my response on. If I misunderstand, I apologize. (also, I didn’t down vote you, for what it’s worth, I appreciate the sincerity).

Please don’t try to whitewash these criminals as heroes in this story. They know their target, chose it deliberately and chose to release sensitive information about the victims of their own accord for their own gain.

Doing cybersecurity 100% right 100% of the time is damn hard work. Anyone that says ‘lol their security sucked, they deserved it’ has no idea how much work it takes to keep not only a complex system free from compromise, but also keep the users from shooting themselves in the face and taking the network down with them.

Not nearly enough hyperbole in this launch announcement!

"Today, we’re announcing our most ambitious product we’ve ever assembled.

Meet iRock, the most bold design you have experienced to store mass. This innovation from Apple engineers right here in Cupertino, America allows our users to skip across bodies of water, hold open doors, and even be a pet. <drones on for 20 more minutes expound g on the virtues of iRock>.

Next up, iPaper, a revolutionary, breakthrough companion to iRock. It serves as a premium “covering layer” to the iRock user experience, as well as having a vastly superior tactile interface and clean, distraction free design. Of course, creativity and expression is at the very heart of Apple, so iPaper allows customization of the standard crisp, clean and brilliant white. Seriously, look at our stores and our products. Sterile operating room porcelain white is what we prefer. And please don’t touch our products with your dirty, dirty human fingers. Our products are design masterpieces that should be on display in the Lourve, not in your cheeto fingers. Where was I - oh yes - iPaper will change the world with its ability to transform. Now, over to Kevin.

HI, I’m Kevin from Apple’s Transforming Tomorrow’s Reality Today Team (TTRTT for short). We have come up with the greatest new innovation for Apple users yet. Imaging being able to take an object and make it into many smaller objects. Until now, the only way to do that was with a clumsy collection of hard to understand tools from old ways of thinking. At Apple, we only think of new ways to do old things in more complex, expensive ways. And now, with the power of AI built in to every A10 chip, and that chip in every product we sell, everyone can experience increased power usage and data mining. Our latest innovation, iScissors, takes that ability and allows you to integrate more seamlessly than ever before by integrating with iPaper. Thus dynamic powerhouse allows you to unlock your creative potential and _change the world! _

(iScissors not compatible with iRock until v2, eta q3, 2028)

Well, the desk in the oval office used to have a simple plaque on it that said: “the buck stops here”.