Why are these orders of magnitude more profitable than WannaCrypt? More computers infected? Bigger percentage of targets paying the ransom? Larger ransom amounts? Something else?
People have started taking better backups, now they have the option to restore, plus it's too big, the UK government is never going to pay $300 per computer when you may have 10,000 computers locked up. When you get a small firm with 5 pcs and the cost is $1500 it's a cheap lesson so you pay up.
Why would it be? Usually Ransomware has a unique btc address per infection (per machine) so the decryption key is linked to the payment, that doesn't seem to be the case with this malware.
Maybe 'cause it wasn't a commercial operation, but a "retaliation at a time and place of our own choosing" that spread outside Russia before the killswitch could be hit via their cutout.
