© Mark Wilson/Getty Images/ / AFPThe US Justice Department
Marcus Hutchins, the hacker who stopped the WannaCry ransomware and was arrested by the FBI soon after, accused of creating and distributing malware himself, has asked for donations to cover legal costs as he faces more charges.
The updated indictment was filed with the Wisconsin Eastern District Court earlier this week. It complements the original six-count indictment against Hutchins from July, submitted a month before his arrest by FBI agents in Las Vegas, Nevada, with four more charges.
Hutchins, who has been released on bail pending trial,
had already been charged with advertising, distributing and profiting from a malware code called "Kronos" between July 2014 and July 2015. In addition to these charges, the updated indictment accuses the hacker-turned-cyber-security-expert of lying to the FBI during the arrest about his role in developing the virus.
Hutchins "knowingly and willfully made a materially false, fictitious, and fraudulent statement" by claiming that he was not aware his computer code was part of Kronos malware "until he reverse engineered the malware sometime in 2016," the indictment states. The investigators say that Hutchins, in fact, helped develop the malware, admitting to his acquaintance as far back as in November 2014, that he laid his hand on the virus.
Comment: Clearly, those were mere anti-war protests and had nothing to do with terrorism. And since Syria did not invite Turkey to enter its territory, the operation can be accurately described as an 'occupation' which uses 'illegitimate force'. This, of course, does not justify the actions of the PKK/YPG - but the students were not supporting them either. Is Erdogan such a snowflake that he can't take a little freedom of speech?