Alarmist? In Britain we have sent ~800 innocent people to prison because a programming error said they stole money. The software development company testified in court that their software was great, despite many inconsitencies being pointed out.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Post_Office_scandal

I think it should be obvious that a poorly designed product can do much more damage than it costs, both through stolen data and by causing legal action

As software intrudes into physical world, the potential for damage will keep growing.