FWIW though (and I don't have easily available "sources") there was this immediate retaliation where Biden was like "we will completely prosecute these offenders" and within days DarkSide PR department said "Hey sorry we didn't mean to disrupt core services, we just want money" (sic)

So it's a spectrum

That's not even close to what happened.

The administration left it alone for days saying they'll let private business sort it out. (Default investigation notwithstanding.)

When a bunch of news media started reporting the group was Russian and then insinuate it was a state sponsored attack, DarkSide said something along the lines of, "We didn't realize this would start geopolitical conflict. We will be careful to vet clients more carefully in the future."

They also accepted a ransom substantially below their typical going rate. The Darkside people were probably shitting their pants, this is not what they intended at all.

Did they leave it alone for days? The FBI seized the ransom (claiming it was left in a Coinbase account) so clearly someone was doing something.

"Left alone" as in publicly and geopolitically.

The FBI investigated the crime as they always do. It was treated as a standard international monetary theft.

I mean it's reasonably close - but FWIW thanks for the correction, it's been a wild year

Sounds so spooky, do say more! Do you mean Jason Bourne / John Wick shows up at the hackers’ nest?

Well, if the attacker manages to kill a few thousand people, there's precedent for the USA going to war over it. It would depend on the host nation of course, if it was e.g. China, Russia or some state in their sphere of influence, it'd be different than if the hackers were holed out in, say, Afghanistan.

Or Raytheon, yeah, I imagine so.