Ransomware highlights the challenges and subtleties of cyber security

The Royal United Services Institute, a think-tank, analysed 1,200 ransomware attacks which mostly took place last year. Two of its findings make the extortionist’s incentives clear. The fact that 60% of victims were based in America or had their headquarters there can be explained by Sutton’s law: that’s where the money is. The fact that there were no victims in Russia or most other post-Soviet countries can be explained by other rules—rules about activities which are inappropriate on your own doorstep, or where you eat.