WannaCry-killer, Marcus Hutchins faces new charges

Last year, the British security researcher Marcus Hutchins discovered a “kill switch” that prevented the dissemination of WannaCry ransomware, but he was later arrested by the FBI because he created and sold Kronos malware. He now faces more accusations, including lying to the FBI.

Last year’s allegations stated that he had created the Kronos Bank Trojan in 2014 and 2015, and the prosecutor now accused him of manufacturing a separate malicious software called the UPAS suite. The prosecutor stated that the UPAS suite was created in 2012 and sold by Hutchins to people using the pseudonym Aurora123 in July of the same year. It uses a form to capture and Web injection to intercept and collect personal information from protected computers, allowing unauthorized disclosure of information from protected computers. The malware can be installed silently and won’t alarm the various anti-virus engines.

Another new allegation stated that Marcus Hutchins had lied to the FBI agent after being arrested in August last year. He allegedly told Agent that he did not know that his code was part of Kronos, but he later admitted to creating and selling malware in 2014. The FBI said this proves that he initially lied.

Hutchins’ lawyer, Brian Klein, described the new indictment as “worthless”. Others claimed that he had not read his Miranda rights when he was arrested for the first time after attending the Def Con hacking conference in Las Vegas, and he was never informed of the charges against him. He was deprived of sleep during interrogations.

Hutchins pleaded not guilty at a court hearing in August 2017 in Milwaukee and release on $30,000 bail. He now spends $100,000 on attorneys’ fees. He now spends $100,000 on attorneys’ fees.

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Source: thehackernews