Absolutely. Not all ransomware gangs do; like pirates of old, some have a strict ethical code. Some also hate that others are doing it because it attracts more negative international attention towards them. Some care purely about money, though, and see hospitals as easy paydays.

Here's a September 2020 interview with one operator: https://talos-intelligence-site.s3.amazonaws.com/production/...

>The actor appears to have a contradictory code of ethics, portraying a strong disdain for those who attack health care entities while displaying conflicting evidence about whether he targets them himself. This is probably representative of many adversaries engaged in illicit cyber activity.

>Hospitals are considered easy targets, making ransom payments 80 to 90 percent of the time during a ransomware attack.

When easy money's in front of you and there are no deterrents, the sole thing holding you back is your ethics, and given a large enough number of people, some are going to have very little in the way of ethics.

They're so brazen that many don't even care much about privacy. If there are no possible repercussions, why bother trying to conceal yourself?

>During our initial conversations, we shared what we believed to be Aleks’ identity and location based on our own research, which he confirmed.