Arrested discoverer WannaCry kill switch gets $12,000 in aid

A crowdfunding campaign set up to cover the legal costs of recently arrested researcher Marcus Hutchins, aka MalwareTech, has raised at least $12,000 so far. So says one of the people behind the campaign.

Author Tarah Wheeler made announced on Sunday how much money has now been raised, a day after the campaign was launched. People can contribute via Lawpay or by transferring bitcoin to a specific address. At the time of writing, 78 transactions have taken place and almost 2000 euros worth of bitcoin has been converted. No target amount has been set, although the Lawpay page states that the money left over will be donated to the civil rights organization EFF. The EFF is involved in the campaign.

Hutchins, 23, was arrested by the FBI last Wednesday and is suspected of having been involved in creating, distributing and managing the Kronos banking malware between 2014 and 2015. He was in the US for the Black Hat and Security conferences. Def Con. The researcher has been analyzing malware for some time and became known for discovering a ‘kill switch’ in the WannaCry ransomware. The security world reacted with surprise to the arrest. Hutchins has pleaded not guilty and will be released Monday on $30,000 bail, according to The Register.

In an old tweet of MalwareTech, the researcher expresses his surprise that some of the code he wrote himself can be found in the source code of Kronos. MalwareTech had published the code in question in a blog post in early 2015, highlighting a particular hooking technique. His code was then used in the malware. The reference also appears in the blog post by security expert Kevin Beaumont, who summarized the events of the past few days.

Forbes has investigated the Kronos malware and concluded that the malicious software should be seen as a “failure” due to the lack of sales and reduced price. An IBM researcher tells the site that the malware never really made it big and that the last activity was recorded in 2016. Attorney Tor Ekeland tells Forbes that the indictment against Hutchins is “a disaster” and that the US government is trying to punish the investigator for crimes that others have committed with Kronos. Hutchins could face up to 40 years in prison if found guilty.