Researcher Who Stopped WannaCry Ransomware Detained in US After Def Con

[Porthos]

https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/...nacry-ransomware-detained-in-us-after-def-con

On Wednesday, US authorities detained a researcher who goes by the handle MalwareTech, best known for stopping the spread of the WannaCry ransomware virus.

In May, WannaCry infected hospitals in the UK, a Spanish telecommunications company, and other targets in Russia, Turkey, Germany, Vietnam, and more. Marcus Hutchins, a researcher from cybersecurity firm Kryptos Logic, inadvertently stopped WannaCry in its tracks by registering a specific website domain included in the malware's code.

Hutchins was arrested for allegedly creating the Kronos banking malware.

 

[Markverhyden]

If he's been in the UK all this time I wonder why he was not picked up by UK LE?

 

[kpk1]

He should've kept a lower profile. (if that's possible these days)

Sent from my SM-G935F using Tapatalk

 

[NETWizz]

Did he do it? It doesn't make sense to stop one piece of malware and then make another.

 

[nlinecomputers]

Maybe he is just trying to eliminate the competition. Would not be the first one to work both sides of the fence. Nor unique to this industry. There are cops on the take, fireman who are arsonists, and so on.

 

[ComputerRepairTech]

Maybe he is just trying to eliminate the competition. Would not be the first one to work both sides of the fence. Nor unique to this industry. There are cops on the take, fireman who are arsonists, and so on.

I think he probably did it either for fame or because the ransomware was against his code of ethics.

 

[Krynn72]

Did he do it? It doesn't make sense to stop one piece of malware and then make another.

Didn't he "stop" WannaCry by accident. Like he was researching it and then registered a domain he saw in it, probably just to troll them, and it just happened to turn out to be a killswitch.

 

[ohio_grad_06]

Who wants to guess you'll see him sometime working for the government?