United States FBI arrested a Britisher named Marcus Hutchins early this week for creating banking malware having the potential to steal credit card information of customers. Remember, Hutchins is the same guy who helped shut down WannaCry cyber attack that crippled the NHS.
The 23-year old was arrested by FBI Nevada for creating and distributing the Kronos Banking Trojan between July 2014 and July 2015.
As per the sources reporting to our Cybersecurity insiders, Marcus developed a “Kill Switch” for WannaCry in May 2017 which helped curb the virus from spreading further.
And as soon as he attained fame in the media, FBI tracked down his whereabouts to an old and pending cyber attack case.
So, the sudden limelight in the media made the internet hero fall into the eyes of FBI Nevada who arrested him on August 2nd, 2017.
Marcus Hutchins is facing a six count indictment charge for his role in creating and distributing Kronos Banking Trojan. It is said that the grand jury in the Eastern District of Wisconsin pronounced the statement of his arrest in early July this year. And law enforcement authorities nabbed Marcus from Las Vegas’s McCarran International Airport.
Daily Mail reports that Hutchins created Kronos malware along with another hacker and advertised the software and sold it for 2000 dollars in bitcoins in June 2015. The malware is said to be capable of stealing banking customer’s log-in info from web browsers including IE, Firefox, and Chrome.
Meanwhile, Marcus mother, Janet Hutchins said that her son’s involvement was hugely unlikely as he dedicated his entire life to combat cyber attacks.
