Watching the hapless negotiating antics of the cybercriminal who supposedly stole 10 million Australians’ sensitive personal information from Optus brought home the absurdity of the situation we are in.

That some jerk chasing US$1 million could threaten to make half the country’s life a misery is preposterous. It is all the more so, because we could stop this senseless drain on our economy with one simple action that we have, up to now, been too timid to contemplate: banning ransom payments.