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>if there is no payout the bad actors will give up the attack

I'd argue that isn't true. Ransomware is a form of terror in the form of "losing everything". And that threat of impending loss combined with 'backups are hard wahhhh' and the fact that no Corp I know backs up user machines...

As a numbers game, it pays. Well. And even if it didn't, some still hack for the "lulz".

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>>no Corp I know backs up user machines

Most of the orgs I've worked at (for at least the last decade) map the local profile to a network share, which is definitely backed up. The only things not backed up would be saved outside that folder structure, but the organizations have always been clear about that.

Definitely. Look at all the people pursuing "make money fast" scams. Some people will happily do anything they think might make them a buck. Not paying out will help, of course, but it doesn't eliminate the problem.

When there is no money in it nobody will be developing the exploits that make it easy. There is a large difference between buying a recent vulnerability and exploiting it vs finding a vulnerability.

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