>Criminal charges for not fixing known vulnerabilities? That's a risky road to travel down.
It is a risky road, but I believe that something (not necessarily this, and certainly not "criminal" charges) needs to be done to make these firms have some responsability.
Instead of the road comparison, let's make another one, you have an electrician (certified/authorized/whatever) come to your house, enter it and replace a wall socket.
By mistake (not intentionally) he mis-wires something or doesn't notice that the wires insulation is not good and as soon as you insert a plug, the wires go on fire and the fire extends to your home.
Would you ask him to reimburse the damages?
I would guess yes, and most probably he has a suitable insurance to cover this (hopefully rare) cases.
Wouldn't this infection by malware be a similar form of malpractice by someone that should know what they are doing?
This is not the case of someone downloading a new phone ringer from some unknown site, it is a professional software firm that provdes tax software to an almost whole country that sends you an update.
It is a risky road, but I believe that something (not necessarily this, and certainly not "criminal" charges) needs to be done to make these firms have some responsability.
Instead of the road comparison, let's make another one, you have an electrician (certified/authorized/whatever) come to your house, enter it and replace a wall socket.
By mistake (not intentionally) he mis-wires something or doesn't notice that the wires insulation is not good and as soon as you insert a plug, the wires go on fire and the fire extends to your home.
Would you ask him to reimburse the damages?
I would guess yes, and most probably he has a suitable insurance to cover this (hopefully rare) cases.
Wouldn't this infection by malware be a similar form of malpractice by someone that should know what they are doing?
This is not the case of someone downloading a new phone ringer from some unknown site, it is a professional software firm that provdes tax software to an almost whole country that sends you an update.