FBI: Arrest of Briton who stopped WannaCry

British Marcus Hutchins, who discovered and activated the kill switch that stopped the WannaCry ransomware, was arrested by the FBI in America.

Hutchins was invited to last week's DEF CON conference in Las Vegas, Nevada and stayed a few days to tour the .FBI

The United Kingdom National Criminal Services confirmed to The Registry that a British citizen was arrested in Nevada but did not say anything about what he was accused of.

Hutchins, also known as MalwareTechBlog on Twitter, was ready to board a flight to return to the United Kingdom on Wednesday when the FBI arrested him and led him to an unknown location. His friends say they are worried because they have no idea what happened, why, and what is being held.

Hutchins became famous two months ago when he WannaCry ransomware began to hit businesses, organizations and individuals around the world. Malicious software accidentally stopped its worldwide spread when Hutchins discovered a domain name hidden in its code.

Hxxp: // www [.] Iuqerfsodp9ifjaposdfjhgosurijfaewrwergwea [.] Com

The domain was responsible for spreading the WannaCry ransomware. Hutchins bought that domain and created a sinkhole that used to redirect traffic from infected computers to a self-managed system.

Andrew Mabbitt's friend, founder of Fidus Security, confirmed that 23-year-old Hutchins was arrested.

"I'm trying to find a lawyer for @MalwareTechBlog as it has no legal representation and cannot have visitors."

Hutchins, who works for an American bank from his home in Blighty, was very happy at the conference and left with a commendation he won from cars Miller.

Judging from Hutchins feeds on Twitter, he would fly yesterday evening in the UK after his summer break.

Let us hope it is not something serious.

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Written by giorgos

George still wonders what he's doing here ...

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