Fatboy ransomware adjusts demands based on local price of a Big Mac

A new ransomware-for-hire scheme called Fatboy adjusts the ransom it charges based on international exchange rates so it’s more likely the victims get hit for the largest amount they can reasonably pay.

Posted on Exploit, a Russian-language online forum, Fatboy automatically adjusts ransom demands according to where the victim is located, according to the Recorded Future blog.

That adjustment is based on the Big Mac Index, which was created by The Economist as a way to show whether official international monetary exchange rates line up with the price charged for a certain product – the Big Mac burger sold by McDonald’s – from country to country. The index tells whether currencies are overvalued or undervalued based on what McDonald’s charges in each country.

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