NHS cyber attack hero faces 40 years’ jail in hacking case
A BRITISH hacker who halted a crippling cyber attack on the NHS is facing 40 years in a US jail over claims he created software to hack bank accounts.
Marcus Hutchins admitted to police that he devised a code to harvest bank details, prosecutors told a Las Vegas court.
Mr Hutchins, 23, from Ilfracombe, Devon, intends to plead not guilty to six charges in connection with the creation of Kronos malware, his lawyer said after the hearing in Nevada. He was freed on $30,000 (£23,000) bail and ordered to remain in the United States.
The charges relate to the creation and distribution of a malicious software that targeted bank accounts and was allegedly sold on the dark web by an unnamed co-conspirator for $2,000 (£1,500). But legal experts branded the case “bizarre” and “paper thin”.
His mother, Janet Hutchins, 59, said it was “hugely unlikely” that her son was involved because he had spent “enormous amounts of time” combating such attacks. Mr Hutchins, who is known online as Malwaretech, had been in Las Vegas for Def Con, a large hacking convention, and was arrested as he prepared to return home to Devon. An eight-page federal complaint was filed against him on July 12 in a US district court in Wisconsin, alleging that he “created the Kronos malware” between July 2014 and July 2015.
The banking Trojan Horse was spread through emails with malicious attachments and allowed users to steal money using credentials such as internet banking passwords.
But Tor Ekeland, a New York-based lawyer who specialises in defending alleged cyber criminals, said the case was “legally weak and highly questionable”.