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A British cyber security expert who is credited with neutralizing the global attack against WannaCry ransomware in 2017 has pleaded guilty to US malware development charges.
Federal prosecutors in Wisconsin and Marcus Hutchins' lawyers said Friday that the 24-year-old had agreed to plead guilty to developing malicious software called Kronos and conspiracy to distribute it from 2012 to 2015.
In exchange for his guilty plea, the prosecutor denied eight more charges.
& # 39; I regret these actions & # 39;
"As you may know, I pleaded guilty to two malware-related charges in the years leading up to my security career," Hutchins said in a statement posted on its website.
"I regret these acts and accept full responsibility for my mistakes, having grown up, I have since been using the same skills that I used abusively several years ago for constructive purposes. I will continue to spend my time protecting people from malware attacks. "
Hutchins faces 10 years in prison but could be sentenced to a lighter sentence for accepting responsibility, the court said. The lawyers said Hutchins knew he could be deported.
He first pleaded not guilty to all charges and was scheduled to stand trial in July. A new test date has not been set.
Hutchins "knew that he was always going back"
Prosecutors said Hutchins made incriminating statements during a two-hour interrogation. Later, during a phone call to the prison, he would have told Hutchins that he had been registered.
"I knew it would always come back," Hutchins said over the phone, but he did not "think it would be so soon".
Hutchins was arrested in Las Vegas in August 2017 while he was preparing to embark on a flight to England.
A few months earlier, he had been greeted by a hero for finding a "neutralization switch" during the WannaCry ransomware attack that had paralyzed computers around the world.
WannaCry has infected hundreds of thousands of computers and caused disruption in factories, hospitals, stores and schools in more than 150 countries.
Read more: Top 10 mistakes that make life easier for cybercriminals
Kronos software designed to steal banking data
Prosecutors said in court that Hutchins had sold Kronos software to someone in Wisconsin and that he had "personally delivered" the software to someone in California.
The malicious program was designed "to intercept communications and collect personal information, including usernames, pbadwords, e-mail addresses and financial data" from computers, prosecutors said.
Kronos was "used to infect many computers around the world and steal banking information," prosecutors said, without providing an exact figure.
It is still unclear how much money Hutchins has generated with the creation of the malware, but in online discussions, the FBI intercepted the FBI in November 2014, lamenting that he only won $ 8,000 (€ 7,100) in five sales.
Hutchins said he thought he was earning around $ 100,000 a year by selling Kronos to one of his conspirators, who was not named in the indictment.
law / kl (AP, Reuters)
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