“Gray hat” hackers like Marcus Hutchins (WannaCry hero) are undoubtedly some of the most valuable people in the security field , even if their history is often complicated and full of mistakes. Why do we mention this? Because now that the British researcher has regained his freedom, he wants to dedicate himself to protecting people from malware attacks, setting a good example for those involved in hacking .
Marcus Hutchins, who is known as the “accidental hero” since he stopped the WannaCry ransomware in 2017, managed to avoid a potential 10-year prison sentence for creating and selling banking trojans.
For those of you who don't know his background, the 25-year-old who was released on probation has a truly dark past. Before he managed to stop a dangerous ransomware by registering a domain as a kill switch, Hutchins had already attracted a lot of attention due to some banking trojans he coded between July 2012 and September 2015.
After his online fame as a hero thanks to the suppression of WannaCry, his fortunes changed when the FBI arrested him in Las Vegas on charges that he had developed and sold a malware called Kronos. He didn’t admit it at the time, but federal prosecutors had enough phone records to force him to confess. And sure enough, in April of this year he pleaded guilty to developing the malware as well as eight other charges.
The two banking trojans Hutchins created were UPAS Kit and Kronos, which was essentially a more powerful version of the first. Both operated in a way that allowed them to steal data from electronic forms and give the hacker the ability to remotely control the infected computer.
JP Stadmueller, the presiding judge in the case, congratulated him on his decision to change his lifestyle and noted that people like Hutchins are needed because of their ability to find solutions to critical security issues.
However, the British malware researcher may not be able to return to the U.S., but that doesn't seem to bother him. He's now trying to continue his security research, which is a happy ending.
