Man who stopped WannyCry Ransomeware is Charged

Hutchins, also known as @MalwareTechBlog, stormed to fame after he found a kill switch in the malware, known as WannaCry, amid a global epidemic of ransomware. Hutchins registered a domain name that stemmed the infection.

He was hailed as a hero for stopping the attack, which gripped UK hospitals and other major industries around the world.

The charges are not related to WannaCry, said the Justice Department spokesperson.

The Justice Department has been after those involved with the notorious Kronos malware for more than two years. The indictment accuses another unnamed defendant in the case of advertising and selling the malware on the now-defunct dark web marketplace AlphaBay. Its founder and operator, Alexandre Cazes, was found dead last month.

The Kronos malware can steal credentials, and uses web injections for every major browser to modify legitimate banking websites. Kronos is able to evade some antivirus detection and sandbox environments.

A message to the UK Consulate in Los Angeles -- which is reportedly assisting Hutchins, according to a friend -- was unreturned at the time of writing. The UK Consulate in New York is "in touch with local authorities in Las Vegas" following Hutchin's arrest.

The UK's National Cyber Security Center said it was "aware" of the situation but would not comment on a matter of law enforcement.