US Programmer who stopped the spread of the WannaCry virus

Employees of the FBI detained in Las Vegas 23-year-old programmer Marcus Hutchins, who became known after he stopped the spread of the virus WannaCry , which hit hundreds of computers around the world. This is reported by Motherboard .

On what charge the detention was made, it is not reported. Initially, Hutchins was taken to an isolator in Nevada, and then again escorted, but where, it is not known, told the publication the familiar programmer.

According to him, he applied to the US Marshals Service, where he was told that there was no person named Hutchins in their records. The Motherboard source in the department said that the arrest was made by FBI employees. The office did not respond to the inquiry.

Shortly before the arrest, Hutchins visited Las Vegas at two annual hacking conferences Black Hat and Def Con.

The National Center for Cybersecurity of Great Britain was informed that they are aware of the detention of a British citizen in the United States. The center said that the detention was carried out at the request of the American authorities.

From the biography of Hutchins on the site Heavy.com it follows that he does not have a higher education, and he learned to program himself. He often visited the hacking conference "Def Con".

Hutchins became known after he stopped the spread of the virus-extortionist WannaCry. He noticed that the virus for some reason asks the domain iuqerfsodp9ifjaposdfjhgosurijfaewrwergwea.com, and if the request does not receive a response, then the data on the infected computer is encrypted. Hutchins registered this domain, stopping the spread of the virus.

The WannaCry cipher was launched on 12 May. He blocked the data on tens of thousands of computers and demanded a ransom of $ 300 for decryption. Attackers earned at least $ 140,000 from the virus. In Russia, the virus was infected with computers in Megafon, the Interior Ministry and the Investigative Committee.

Подробнее: https://www.newsru.com/world/03aug2017/marcushutchins.html