Reply to post: Oh dear... maybe

WannaCry-killer Marcus Hutchins denies Feds' malware claims

Commswonk

Oh dear... maybe

Crucially, prosecutors are also claiming that Hutchins admitted during interrogation, in which he did not have a lawyer, to writing malware, and allege the Brit hinted he also sold software nasties. That sounds bad, however bear in mind that Hutchins, who goes by MalwareTechBlog on Twitter, has written and shared malware code online for research purposes.

I am in no way defending the US policing or judicial systems but if the above is true then I would submit that Hutchins has been rather silly. He may well have "witten and shared malware code for research purposes" but it is perfectly fair to argue that he has to accept some responsibility if some of that code is subsequently used for malicious purposes.

As a defence it will sound every bit as hollow as the claim that "I was looking at child porn for research purposes", which has been tried in the UK - without success IIRC. "Sharing online" is not a good way of discriminating between those with good intent and those with malicious intent so he may well be on a loser with that part of any indictment.

I suppose he might be guilty of nothing more than naivety, but that might not be sufficient to keep him out of trouble.

POST COMMENT House rules

Not a member of The Register? Create a new account here.

  • Enter your comment

  • Add an icon

Anonymous cowards cannot choose their icon