Criminals extorting money online have created huge businesses, complete with branding and HR Criminals extorting money online have created huge businesses, complete with branding and HR T he birth of ransomware was a stunt that got out of hand. In 1989, an evolutionary biologist called Joseph L Popp Jr was working part time for the World Health Organisation on the Aids epidemic. He was a difficult man. When he was denied a permanent job, he decided to punish his peers while shocking them into