[OPLIN 4cast] OPLIN 4Cast #657: No Jail Time for Hero Hacker's Black Hat Past

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OPLIN 4Cast #657: No Jail Time for Hero Hacker's Black Hat Past
July 31st, 2019

[image: Cyber crime concept. Metal handcuffs and judge gavel on computer
keyboard, 3d illustration] Where does an ethical, "white hat" hacker get
started? To learn and hone the skills you need to successfully fight the
bad guys, how far must you stray into the bad guy milieu? These questions
were been going through my head last weekend as I read the story of the
conviction and sentencing of Marcus Hutchins, who it seems is both the
villain who created the Kronos trojan and the hero stopped the WannaCry
ransomware. Hutchins was sentenced last week to supervised release, and is
free to return home to Great Britain. Should he and his lawyers seek a
pardon for his crimes?

   -
   - Marcus Hutchins, malware researcher and ‘WannaCry hero,’ sentenced to
   supervised release
   <https://techcrunch.com/2019/07/26/marcus-hutchins-sentenced-kronos/> [
   *TechCrunch*] "Hutchins, a British citizen who goes by the online
   handle @MalwareTech, was arrested in Las Vegas by federal marshals in
   August 2017 while boarding a flight back to the U.K. following the Def Con
   security conference. The government alleged in an indictment that he
   developed Kronos, a malware that steals banking credentials from the
   browsers of infected computers."
   - Marcus Hutchins, who stopped WannaCry's spread, avoids prison time
   <https://www.cyberscoop.com/marcus-hutchins-sentenced-kronos-wannacry/> [
   *Cyberscoop*] "Hutchins created Kronos as a black hat hacker, a life he
   disavowed before the WannaCry ransomware virus infected more than 200,000
   computers in roughly 150 countries in May 2017. Hutchins, working as a
   security researcher at the time, found a so-called kill switch in the
   WannaCry code which stopped the malware’s spread."
   - MalwareTech, the Security Researcher Who Stopped WannaCry Ransomware,
   Gets No Prison Time for Hacking Crimes
   <https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/9kxewv/malwaretech-wannacry-ransomware-sentencing>
   [*Vice*] "His arrest captivated and sometimes stirred controversy within
   the cybersecurity industry, with some confused as to why US prosecutors
   were going after Hutchins
   <https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/yww85w/malwaretech-marcus-hutchins-wannacry-kronos-legal-explainer>
for
   crimes committed years prior."
   - The WannaCry Hero Deserves a Pardon, Not a Conviction
   <https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/25/opinion/marcus-hutchins-wannacry.html>
   [*New York Times*] "His conviction sends the wrong message about whether
   or not it pays to mend your ways and, when the moment comes, to do the
   right thing."

*From the Ohio Web Library <http://ohioweblibrary.org>:*

   - McClure, Stuart, and Joel Scambray. “White-Hat Hacking: Separating the
   Hype from the Reality Is an Ongoing Challenge
   <https://proxy.oplin.org:2111/login.aspx?direct=true&db=buh&AN=1764078&site=ehost-live>
   .” *InfoWorld*, vol. 21, no. 15, Apr. 1999, p. 60.
   - Preimesberger, Chris. “Black Hat, DEF CON Founder Offers Insight Into
   Security Shows, Trends
   <https://proxy.oplin.org:2111/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=109363485&site=ehost-live>
   .” *EWeek*, Aug. 2015, p. 1.
   - Fox-Brewster, Thomas. “Watching The Awful WannaCry Ransomware Scourge
   Hit Doctor’s Surgeries IRL
   <http://proxy.oplin.org:2054/login.aspx?direct=true&db=buh&AN=123064563>
   .” *Forbes.Com*, May 2017, p. 13.

------------------------------
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