In the future hackers will have learned some lessons. First, Bitcoin is not the best currency to ask for a ransom because its conversion to physical money is complicated. They could always have used Bitcoin to buy items on the Deep Web, but honestly doing this with $ 140,000 is unproductive.
Second, maybe they should have asked for the ransom in more anonymous coins, like Monero. It is true, however, that with Bitcoin there is always some guarantee of having an assured investment and with good liquidity, in smaller currencies there could be problems to convert into dollars or it could be devalued quickly. However, if in the end the strategy is to turn Monero better to do so from the beginning.
And third, if you call attention the authorities will look more at you and the obfuscation will be more complicated. Better attack smaller objectives than pull the internal network of Telefónica or cause problems to the public health system of the United Kingdom. The bitcoin mixer process does not work if there are a lot of people watching what you do with the money.
