CNN BUSINESS | Why it’s so difficult to bring ransomware attackers to justice

San Francisco (CNN Business) – An incident takes place. Law enforcement investigates. A culprit is identified, apprehended and prosecuted.

That’s typically how we think of addressing a crime. But as some ransomware victims may now be discovering, that process is much more complicated when the criminal is on another continent and the crime takes place virtually.

A spate of ransomware attacks in recent months has compromised critical infrastructure and disrupted daily life across the United States and globally, with one massive attack last week on software vendor Kaseya potentially impacting more than 1,000 companies around the world. Cyber researchers say the attack was carried out by REvil, a group with suspected ties to Russia that also hit meat processing company JBS Foods last month, Apple (AAPL) supplier Quanta Computer in April and electronics maker Acer in March.  —read more—