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Marcus Hutchins, British cybersecurity researcher known for helping halt the WannaCry ransomware attack, pleaded guilty to accusations pertaining to the creation of a banking Trojan.
Hutchins, known online as MalwareTech, was hailed as a “hero” after managing to halt the WannaCry ransomware attack in May 2017 by registering a domain that served as a kill switch for the malware.
However, on August 2, 2017, he was arrested when getting ready to return to the United Kingtom from Las Vegas, where the Black Hat and Def Con security conferences had occurred.
Hutchins, who was charged with being involved in the development, distribution and advertising of Kronos, a renowned banking Trojan, had in August 2017 pleaded not guilty to the accusations.
Last week, Hutchins revealed on both his blog and his Twitter account that he pleaded guilty to two of the ten charges brought to him by the U.S. authorities.
“As you may be aware, I’ve pleaded guilty to two charges related to writing malware in the years prior to my career in security. I regret these actions and accept full responsibility for my mistakes,” he said.
“Having grown up, I’ve since been using the same skills that I misused several years ago for constructive purposes. I will continue to devote my time to keeping people safe from malware attacks,” Hutchins continued.
“There’s misconception that to be a security expert you must dabble in the dark side. It’s not true. You can learn everything you need to know legally. Stick to the good side,” he said.
In “Attachment A” of the plea agreement (PDF), U.S. authorities explain that the researcher was involved in the development of two pieces of banking malware, namely UPAS-Kit and Kronos.
The document continues to clarify that both UPAS and Kronos use form grabbers, key loggers, and web injects to steal user names, passwords, email addresses, and financial data from victim computers. The document states that Hutchins built both pieces of malware and provided them to a partner to be sold for profit.
At the moment, it’s not clear when Hutchins is scheduled for sentencing.
