This one is a mixed bag. KYC regulations are very useful in detecting and prosecuting money laundering and crimes like human trafficking. But ya, if this data needs to be kept, the regulations around secure storage need to be just as tight. This sort of thing should be required to be kept to cybersecurity standards like CMMC Level 3, audited by outside auditors and violations treated as company and executive disqualifying events (you ran a company so poorly you failed to secure data, you’re not allowed to run such a company for the next 10 years). The sort of negligence of leaving a database exposed to the web should already result in business crippling fines (think GDPR style fines listed in percentages of global annual revenue). A database which is exposed to the web and has default credentials or no access control at all should result in c-level exec seeing the inside of a jail cell. There is zero excuse for that happening in a company tasked with protecting data. And I refuse to believe it’s the result of whatever scape-goat techs they try to pin this on. This sort of failure always comes from the top. It’s caused by executives who want everything done fast and cheap and don’t care about it being done right.
In a catastrophic security failure, an AI-powered tool used by IDMerit, a global leader in digital identity verification, has exposed a staggering one billion personal records
Didn’t it happened already that AI seriously compromised a production database? Will people ever learn?
This is genuinely grim
Nothing evil in preventing funding of criminals. GTFO with this sensational subject line.
The Post Title Says “12M Aussies personal data leaked - and 1 Billion worldwide”.
That’s not really sensational, it’s two facts included in the article. Sensational would be “12m Aussies hacked” or something, implying something entirely different.
There’s no assertion from the article or the title that KYC shouldn’t happen - you seem to be imagining that.
However, if a service uses a third party to collect and store KYC data then that third party needs to take reasonable steps to safe guard that data.
Criminals and scammers are going to have a great day with the personal info of the 1 billion people now.
Criminals also have great time with knives, or rope, or crowbars. Not reason to say all those things are evil. Problems are companies who nickel-and-dime on security.
If you gather all ropes, crowbars and knives then don’t stop the criminal from getting access then it’s the gov’t fault. It’s better if they just leave all those private knives alone and not gather it to one spot.
You’re just confirming what I’ve written: Problems are companies who nickel-and-dime on security. And yes, we need punishments for data breaches. This has nothing to do with KYC laws being evil. It’s just OP being a money launderer.
So why don’t KYC laws come with punishments for data breaches?
If it’s only there to help law enforcement and not protect anybody else what do you call that?
I certainly don’t call that evil. There are many laws that exist solely to help law enforcement, they aren’t automatically evil.
KYC laws resulted in the personal data of a billion people leaking. Criminals and scammers will use this data to cause much harm.
Yes, I can condemn supporters of KYC laws for their incompetence and stupidity. This was obviously going to happen at some point. If you stockpile data, it eventually leaks.
And if you don’t collect that data, criminals and scammers will use free access to banking system to fund their scams and crimes. Letting people drive cars will obviously lead to accidents and deaths, that’s not a reason to outright ban people from driving. Just like risk of data branches is not a reason to outright call KYC evil.



