Don't look over your shoulder, Hamburglar: Fatboy is gaining on you. When the new ransomware by that name calculates the digital extortion that must be paid to free up devices it has infected and paralyzed, it has the good manners to take its victim's cost of living into consideration. It relies on the "Big Mac Index” maintained by The Economist magazine. You could say, in other words, that Fatboy thinks the poor deserve a break today.
From the Observer:
The index is a way of comparing currency exchange rates (such as the dollar and the yen) to the real price of an actual product, McDonald's most famous burger. The Big Mac turns out to be a good proxy for prices around the world. It is hard to find a product that's exactly the same everywhere, but McDonald's works really hard to make sure that a customer buying a Big Mac gets exactly the same thing anywhere it's bought on the globe. ... It's nice to see that digital thugs have come to take a more nuanced view of people's ability to pay. ...
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