A difference to physical "protection" schemes is that the group you'd pay to might actually keep other groups out of what they consider their turf. Ransomware attacks are not geographically bound so I really doubt that similar structures would develop there. With growing numbers of ransomers demands just wouldn't stop until either the company runs out if money or security gets good enough to keep them out.

Good point, not a great analogy. My sentiment was the risk of this becoming normalized and even formalized.

When I was (a lot) younger, I had a pet theory that the anti-virus companies were making the viruses and that it was a sort of protection racket.

What makes crime "organised"? There's no indication that this involved more than one thief.

Organized crime has a specific meaning. Whether this particular outfit is one or more people has no bearing on the use of the term organized crime in this instance.

I asked:

> What makes crime "organised"?

Your answer is:

> Organized crime has a specific meaning

Well... what is it?

Sorry, I didn't think you might not be able to search for it. Here's a link.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Organized_crime

The link says you're wrong, and that in fact you can't have organised crime without at least two people.