The Guy Who Stopped A Global Cyberattack Has Reportedly Been Arrested

Marcus Hutchins, the cybersecurity researcher best known for stopping one of the world's biggest ransomware attacks, was reportedly arrested Wednesday.

BuzzFeed News

Vice's Motherboard first reported the news.

It was not immediately clear why the arrest occurred and federal officials did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

In May, a strain of ransomware dubbed WannaCry streaked through more than 100,000 computer systems in 150 countries, hobbling vital infrastructure. The UK's National Health Service (NHS), Spanish telecommunications giant Telefonica, and Russia's Internal Affairs Ministry, as well as other notable targets across the world, ground to a halt in the face of the attack. The attack also affected the US.

Ransomware acts lock users out of their own computers and smartphones as hackers threaten to erase files and demand payment. The virus affected computers using Windows operating systems that had not installed a free update issued in March. A hacking group called the Shadow Brokers had exploited the vulnerability in April to release documents from the National Security Agency (NSA). The NSA had previously developed technology to make use of the weakness.

Hutchins, 23, who goes by the username MalwareTech online, is a cybersecurity researcher with the firm Kryptos Logic. He stopped the attack almost by happenstance: he registered as the owner of a website domain name contained in the ransomware's code, which acted as a one-hit KO to a mechanism within its code called EternalBlue.

He had attended the Black Hat and Def Con cybersecurity conferences in Las Vegas before authorities detained him on Thursday, Motherboard reported.

According to Motherboard, Nevada's Henderson Detention Center was holding Hutchins early Thursday before authorities transferred him to another facility. Officials at Henderson confirmed that Hutchins was not currently being held at the facility, but declined to provide further information.

Motherboard also reported that FBI agents made the arrest. However, the FBI's Las Vegas field office directed BuzzFeed News to the Department of Justice, which did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

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