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posted by Fnord666 on Tuesday July 30 2019, @07:03AM   Printer-friendly
from the I-don't-think-we're-in-Kansas-any-more dept.

Arthur T Knackerbracket has found the following story:

The British security enthusiast enjoyed instant fame after the U.K. media revealed he'd registered and sinkholed a domain name that researchers later understood served as a hidden "kill switch" inside WannaCry, a fast-spreading, highly destructive strain of ransomware which propagated through a Microsoft Windows exploit developed by and subsequently stolen from the U.S. National Security Agency.

In August 2017, FBI agents arrested then 23-year-old Hutchins on suspicion of authoring and spreading the "Kronos" banking trojan and a related malware tool called UPAS Kit. Hutchins was released shortly after his arrest, but ordered to remain in the United States pending trial.

Many in the security community leaped to his defense at the time, noting that the FBI's case appeared flimsy and that Hutchins had worked tirelessly through his blog to expose cybercriminals and their malicious tools. Hundreds of people donated to his legal defense fund.

In September 2017, KrebsOnSecurity published research which strongly suggested Hutchins' dozens of alter egos online had a fairly lengthy history of developing and selling various malware tools and services. In April 2019, Hutchins pleaded guilty to criminal charges of conspiracy and to making, selling or advertising illegal wiretapping devices.

At his sentencing hearing July 26, U.S. District Judge Joseph Peter Stadtmueller said Hutchins' action in halting the spread of WannaCry was far more consequential than the two malware strains he admitted authoring, and sentenced him to time served plus one year of supervised release.

"When it comes to matter of loss or gain," Wheeler wrote, quoting Judge Stadtmeuller. "the most striking is comparison between you passing Kronos and WannaCry, if one looks at loss & numbers of infections, over 8B throughout world w/WannaCry, and >120M in UK."

-- submitted from IRC


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  • (Score: 4, Funny) by aristarchus on Tuesday July 30 2019, @08:01AM

    by aristarchus (2645) on Tuesday July 30 2019, @08:01AM (#873041) Journal

    A "Microsoft Windows Exploit"? Solved by a Sinkhole, that obviously was not a Microsoft Windows Exploit. What I want to know, is why anyone is still using "Micro$erf Windoze Esploit" operating systems at all? Seems like a gamble. A risk too far. Defective by design. And they claim no liability for the ferking status of their inferior software. My rage against the machine increases. Without Micro#oft, FaceBork would not exist. AOL would have been EOL (end of life), and Hotmail would still be a thing. But, alas, when will they ever learn. Here, scan my face to unlock my phone! What could go wrong?

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