This is hilarious. "We're just straightforward parasites on society! We only meant to cause moderate amounts of harm! We will improve our practices going forward!" It honestly reminds me of the social media CEO song and dance every time they're in hot water with Congress.
It won't work as well for the hackers, of course, as they aren't paying for lobbyists, crisis PR, and political donations, however much they're trying to be more "professional". [1] I expect this ransomware crew just got a 10x bump in the number of federal agents going after them.
Doing increased harm brings increased amounts of attention. I'm pretty sure they would like to avoid that.
Before this hack, you had insurance companies wanting to stop these guys. They were comfortable with that level of heat. Having the NSA and CIA trying to track them down is a totally different level. Even if they don't get caught, they have to spend a lot more time worrying about opsec, which leaves them less for actually making money.
It won't work as well for the hackers, of course, as they aren't paying for lobbyists, crisis PR, and political donations, however much they're trying to be more "professional". [1] I expect this ransomware crew just got a 10x bump in the number of federal agents going after them.
[1] https://www.wired.com/story/ransomware-gone-corporate-darksi...