This is a bit over the top. He is not a master hacker who "saved the Internet"; He accidentally neutered WannaCry by registering a domain he found in the binary, which as it turned out, acted as a kill switch.
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Confessions of Marcus Hutchins, the hacker who stopped the WannaCry attack
21–30 of 69 posts
Re: Confessions of Marcus Hutchins, the hacker who stopped the WannaCry attack
#22Earlier quoted context omitted.
> He accidentally neutered he did not "accidentally neuter WannaCry". He stopped WannaCry by registering the kill-switch domain. Nothing accidental about that. > He is not a master hacker he is a kid. what makes his experience interesting, and his story worth listening to is that he had first-hand experience with the legal system as a hacker that went too far (because he is/was a kid). that is worth more than the arm…
He didn't know it was the kill-switch domain. He expected it would enable him to kill the malware, though, and was trying to figure out how to send the kill command before it turned out that simply sitting a server behind the domain was enough to kill it.
What a pointlessly flippant argument. Hutchins discovered, and engaged, the WannaCry killswitch. Irrevocable fact.
Re: Confessions of Marcus Hutchins, the hacker who stopped the WannaCry attack
#23Earlier quoted context omitted.
Shouldn’t the system be set up to reward the good thing more than the bad thing when possible? If someone is in a position of power from doing bad things, how could you expect them to stop of their own volition?
> how could you expect them to stop of their own volition? The threat of punishment ...? Your system encourage doing bad things when you are in a position of doing good things. If I discover a cure for cancer might as well rob a bank and kill my noisy neighbor just before publishing because I'll be pardoned
> The threat of punishment ...?
if this is the only reason not to harm others, then you'll probably look for (and likely find) a way to harm others and avoid punishment.
Re: Confessions of Marcus Hutchins, the hacker who stopped the WannaCry attack
#24Earlier quoted context omitted.
Shouldn’t the system be set up to reward the good thing more than the bad thing when possible? If someone is in a position of power from doing bad things, how could you expect them to stop of their own volition?
That logic doesn't make sense. Everyone has the potential to do something bad. If you have a concealed carry firearm with you, should you get rewarded for not shooting someone on a particular day?
the analogy is more like you had a concealed firearm with you and you shot a terrorist.
although personally I think time served and probation seems about right.
Re: Confessions of Marcus Hutchins, the hacker who stopped the WannaCry attack
#25cybersecurity professionals are the closest things to superheroes we have
Re: Confessions of Marcus Hutchins, the hacker who stopped the WannaCry attack
#26Hutchins was busted for committing bank fraud. Him doing one good thing does not absolve him of having committed another crime...he's still a criminal. Rather than protest him being arrested we should advocate for him getting a reduced sentence for having at least done some good.
Shouldn’t the system be set up to reward the good thing more than the bad thing when possible? If someone is in a position of power from doing bad things, how could you expect them to stop of their own volition?
Can I steal a purse if I read to children at the library?
Re: Confessions of Marcus Hutchins, the hacker who stopped the WannaCry attack
#27Earlier quoted context omitted.
That logic doesn't make sense. Everyone has the potential to do something bad. If you have a concealed carry firearm with you, should you get rewarded for not shooting someone on a particular day?
the analogy is more like you had a concealed firearm with you and you shot a terrorist. although personally I think time served and probation seems about right.
In the UK we stop terrorists with Narwhal tusks
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2019/nov/30/narwhal-tusk...
What's more interesting on the "good deed - bad deed" ometer is
> Among those who pinned down the attacker was James Ford, 42, who is also thought to have tried to save the life of a woman who had been stabbed. Ford was jailed for life in 2004 for the murder of 21-year-old Amanda Champion.
Re: Confessions of Marcus Hutchins, the hacker who stopped the WannaCry attack
#28Title was intentionally misleading before mods updated it.
This is a very one-sided article meant to make Hutchins look good.
The valuable bit of the article is a a reminder of why it's important not to start being criminal/evil, because it traps you in a postive-feedvack loop of criminality as you feel a need to commit ever-greater criminal acts to cover up past acts.
The only escape from this is to create a culture where criminals know that it safer to turn themselves in and turn informant on their co-conspirators, than to try to evade the authorities.
Re: Confessions of Marcus Hutchins, the hacker who stopped the WannaCry attack
#29Earlier quoted context omitted.
Shouldn’t the system be set up to reward the good thing more than the bad thing when possible? If someone is in a position of power from doing bad things, how could you expect them to stop of their own volition?
> how could you expect them to stop of their own volition? The threat of punishment ...? Your system encourage doing bad things when you are in a position of doing good things. If I discover a cure for cancer might as well rob a bank and kill my noisy neighbor just before publishing because I'll be pardoned
Or make it part of a plea deal
Re: Confessions of Marcus Hutchins, the hacker who stopped the WannaCry attack
#30It's a long piece, and quite interesting. Thanks for sharing @Malwaretech.
Yeah this piece is especially long, interesting and nuanced.
If only people could take time to actually read it before reacting with simplistic and pre-existing opinions that would be awesome.