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TECHNOLOGY Friday 4 august 2017
Hacker who helped stop global cyberattack arrested in U.S.

By KEN RITTER and MATT rity expert Rob Graham.
O’BRIEN The big question is the iden-
Associated Press tity of the co-defendant in
LAS VEGAS (AP) — Marcus the case, whose name is
Hutchins, a young British redacted in the indictment.
researcher credited with Why was it blacked out?
derailing a global cyberat- “Maybe the other guy testi-
tack in May, was arrested fied against him,” said Gra-
for allegedly creating and ham. The co-defendant
distributing malicious soft- allegedly advertised the
ware designed to collect malware online. Hutchins
bank-account passwords, is accused of creating and
U.S. authorities said Thurs- transmitting the program.
day. Hutchins was de- The problem with software
tained in Las Vegas on his creation is that often a pro-
way back to Britain from an gram includes code written
annual gathering of hack- by multiple programmers.
ers and information security Prosecutors might need to
gurus. A grand jury indict- prove that Hutchins wrote
ment charged Hutchins code with specific targets.
with creating and distribut- “I’ve written code that oth-
ing malware known as the In this Monday, May 15, 2017, file photo, British IT expert Marcus Hutchins speaks during an er people have injected
Kronos banking Trojan. interview in Ilfracombe, England. malware into,” said Gra-
Such malware infects web Associated Press ham. “We know that large
browsers, then captures from it. The indictment also about Hutchins’ arrest and digital security specialist parts of Kronos were written
usernames and passwords accuses Hutchins of creat- was attempting to reach who had been staying in by other people.”
when an unsuspecting ing the malware. him. Las Vegas with Hutchins, One legal scholar who spe-
user visits a bank or other Authorities said the mal- Hutchins recently attended said he and his friends grew cializes in studying comput-
trusted location. News of ware was first made avail- Def Con, an annual cyber- worried when they got “ra- er crime said it’s unusual,
Hutchins’ detention came able in early 2014, and security conference in Las dio silence” from Hutchins and problematic, for prose-
as a shock to the cyber- “marketed and distributed Vegas that ended Sunday. for hours. The worries deep- cutors to go after someone
security community. Many through AlphaBay, a hid- On Wednesday, Hutchins ened when Hutchins’ moth- simply for writing or selling
had rallied behind the den service on the Tor net- made some routinecom- er called to tell him the malware — as opposed to
researcher whose quick work.” The U.S. Department ments on Twitter that sug- young researcher hadn’t using it to further a crime.
thinking helped control of Justice announced in gested he was at an airport made his flight home. “This is the first case I know
the spread of the Wanna- July that the AlphaBay getting ready to board a Mabbitt said he eventually of where the government
Cry attack that crippled “darknet” marketplace plane for a flight home. He found Hutchins’ name on is prosecuting someone for
thousands of computers was shut down after an never left Nevada. a detention center web- creating or selling malware
last May. The indictment, international law enforce- A Justice Department site. News of his indictment but not actually using it,”
filed in a Wisconsin federal ment effort. A court hear- spokesman confirmed the Wednesday left colleagues said Orin Kerr, a law profes-
court last month, alleges ing was scheduled for 22-year-old Hutchins was scrambling to understand sor at George Washington
that Hutchins and another Hutchins on Thursday after- arrested Wednesday in what happened. University. Kerr said it will
defendant — whose name noon in Las Vegas. It was Las Vegas. Officer Rodrigo “We don’t know the evi- be difficult to prove crimi-
is redacted — conspired not immediately clear if Pena, a police spokesman dence the FBI has against nal intent. “It’s a constant
between July 2014 and July he has a lawyer. The Elec- in Henderson, near Las Ve- him, however we do have issue in criminal law — the
2015 to advertise the avail- tronic Frontier Foundation, gas, said Hutchins spent some circumstantial evi- helping of people who are
ability of the Kronos mal- a San Francisco-based the night in federal custody dence that he was involved committing a crime,” Kerr
ware on internet forums, digital rights group, said it in the city lockup. in that community at the said. “When is that itself a
sell the malware and profit was “deeply concerned” Andrew Mabbitt, a British time,” said computer secu- crime?”q

Trump promotes technology to

improve veterans’ health care

By DARLENE SUPERVILLE tools to conduct medical cal doctor, Shulkin wore
Associated Press exams. Veterans also will his white coat to the White
WASHINGTON (AP) — Presi- be able to use mobile de- House announcement, dur-
dent Donald Trump an- vices to make and man- ing which he demonstrated
nounced new efforts Thurs- age appointments with the technologies for Trump.
day to use technology to Veterans Administration Trump said, “This will signifi-
improve veterans’ health doctors. “We call it ‘any- cantly expand access to
care, saying the programs where to anywhere’ VA care for our veterans, espe-
will greatly expand ac- health care,” VA Secretary cially for those who need
cess, especially for mental David Shulkin said. Shulkin help in the area of mental
health care and suicide said the goal is health care health, which is a bigger
prevention. Veterans liv- for veterans wherever they and bigger request, and President Donald Trump, accompanied by Veterans Affairs
ing in rural areas will also are. He said existing “tele- also in suicide prevention. Secretary David Shulkin talks with a patient during a Veterans
benefit, he said. Initiatives health” programs provided It will make a difference for Affairs Department “telehealth” event, Thursday, Aug. 3, 2017, in
include using video tech- care to more than 700,000 the veterans in rural loca- the Roosevelt Room of the White House in Washington.
nology and diagnostic veterans last year. A medi- tions in particular.”q Associated Press