Gotta say: my father works cybersecurity consulting, been in the business for decades in some form or another. About a year ago, the number of incidents his firm responded to, and with it demand for prevention-oriented work, fell off massively. As in, company’s tightening the belt, laying people off, cutting bonuses, etc, because work has dried up so badly.

The suspicion is a mix of pre-war criminals in Ukraine busy being shot at, hackers in Russia being drafted, and both kinds not getting their checks from a certain mob boss masquerading as a head of state. Both countries previously had an outsize presence in significant breaches, and now it’s strangely quiet. You’re not wrong that organized crime and Russia are related problems, and dismantling one requires dealing with the other, or vice versa. Disarming them of income from criminal enterprise means fewer shells landing in Ukrainian homes.