It's unusual. But this hack was also unusual. All the rest I'd heard of had much more localized ramifications. This one they hit too hard and I'm not sure the apology will be enough to stop what they have probably put into motion.

Somewhat similar: After a ransomware attack on a German hospital where one person died as a consequence, the attackers gave away the encryption key for free.

> The attackers reportedly withdrew the extortion demand and provided a decryption key to unlock the servers. The justice minister report said that the attackers are no longer reachable.

https://www.wired.com/story/a-patient-dies-after-a-ransomwar...

These groups are oddly professional. Excellent "customer" service and they care a lot about their reputation. Well, at least their reputation in reliably unlocking the data. It makes sense when you look at them as a business interested in making money. It's better for them to stay a (relatively) minor annoyance. If they reach the level of geo-political threat then suddenly governments will devote a lot more resources to shutting them down.

This is highly atypical, but they are probably worried. They just created a geopolitical incident that Russia has to clean up, and I would imagine there will be consequences for the group.

Relevant:

>Leo Rosten in The Joys of Yiddish defines chutzpah as "gall, brazen nerve, effrontery, incredible 'guts', presumption plus arrogance such as no other word and no other language can do justice to". In this sense, chutzpah expresses both strong disapproval and condemnation. In the same work, Rosten also defines the term as "that quality enshrined in a man who, having killed his mother and father, throws himself on the mercy of the court because he is an orphan."

Chutzpah amounts to a total denial of personal responsibility, which renders others speechless and incredulous ... one cannot quite believe that another person totally lacks common human traits like remorse, regret, guilt, sympathy and insight. The implication is at least some degree of psychopathy in the subject, as well as the awestruck amazement of the observer at the display

Honestly, it feels like there may be an international game of terrible idea chicken going on.

I remember there being a similar statement after a hospital ransomware attack last made the news here. Now that I'm looking for it there are a lot of hospital ransomware attacks that didn't show up on my radar.

It makes sense from a pure self-serving rational perspective. They don't want to become target of a well-funded investigation or be held responsible for damages above and beyond some unimportant business network. They want to blend in with the background of 1000 other ransomware attacks per day and make money.

The hacker group gives part of their profit to charity and does not attack hospitals or non-profits.

I think they are worried. When the USA puts their focus on a single thing, usually they can crack the case. See Ross Ulbricht / Silk Road.

The hackers who locked an hospital and caused the death of a woman in Germany also promised to be more careful next time.

I have never heard of this happening ever.

It sure sounds like they messed up big time, and it could cost them. I'm sure Putin will never do anything to them while they are in Russia, but the moment they step out of the country to spend some of their money, all bets are off.

They deserve to be hunted down and punished accordingly. When your need to scam people out of money hurts many people and an economy, I say, "Screw You!!."