Cyber security expert Dan Geer is of the mind that hacks should be treated the same way as disease outbreaks. He says that if data breaches are made known instead of kept secret, that they can be better controlled. In the same spirit, people and companies should share cyber security solutions like using ExpressVPN and other top VPN products for better prevention.

Required Threat Reporting

Dan Geer spoke about his ideas at the Black Hat security conference this year. He said that it is very important for companies to be strictly required by law to report on any attacks that they have faced. He said that these requirements should be stricter than the Cybersecurity Framework of the White House.

Many industries are subject to compulsory reporting of serious issues that affect the public. Internet users can be severely harmed by company data breaches. These companies should therefore be made to report about the issues so that they can be better addressed. Geer’s audience at Black Hat responded well to his analogy to disease control. Viruses spread fast and free if they are not reported and aggressively pursued.

Software Product Liability

Geer also reiterated his earlier thoughts on subjecting software companies to product liability regulations. People use software because they need it. And many of them are not aware when they need to set up protections or what to do to stay secure. If software companies are not held responsible for software flaws that cause security issues, their users will continue to be victims. The same thing goes for user metadata. People need to be guaranteed without fail that their metadata is not being stored by online companies. Without this assurance, people will continue to worry that their data is being recorded for undisclosed purposes.