A new message from the operators of Babuk ransomware clarifies that the gang has decided to close the affiliate program and move to an extortion model that does not rely on encrypting victim computers. The gang seems to have chosen a road different from the ransomware-as-a-business (RaaS) model, where the hackers steal data before deploying the encryption stage, as leverage in negotiations for the ransom payment. Babuk s newly announced model remains almost the same, except the data encryption component.
Source: https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/babuk-quits-ransomware-encryption-focuses-on-data-theft-extortion/