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Researcher Who Stopped WannaCry Ransomware Detained in US After Def Con

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Re: Researcher Who Stopped WannaCry Ransomware Detained in US After Def Con

#111

Post by christina_b »

ryanlol wrote: post #92
christina_b wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

BetaMonkey/TouchMe was in fact the person I was referring to who was providing support for his botnet drone builder until he dissapeared with no trace at a later date. Just could not recall the nick at the time of making my original post.

I always assumed the two to be different people. The log shows the two of them talking at the same time, and I remember the two of them having very different attitudes in general. I know TouchMe is malwaretech but would be inclined to assume that BetaMonkey isn't. TouchMe was still a malware developer though, and apparently used to run voidptr before handing it over to BetaMonkey.

I was pretty sure TouchMe was BetaMonkey's new nick, I don't think it was Ntoskrnl (MalwareTech). From what I've heard TouchMe continued support of his drone's users until he dissapeared without a trace. This was so long ago and my memory isn't amazing.

Re: Researcher Who Stopped WannaCry Ransomware Detained in US After Def Con

#113

Post by celticninja »

Traytorz wrote: post #101

I like how this malware writer/researcher claims he "found" the address and "miraculously saved" everyone by grabbing the domain. Not sure why everyone says he isn't the malware writer. What proof do you have that he didn't write it? Maybe he left a trail that you missed.

He found the address in the source code of the ransomware, any researcher could have found it. He even said himself that when he found it in the source code and saw it was unregistered he registered it to see what would happen. As it turned out it stopped infections from occurring.

Not to say that he isnt the malware writer but your use of quote marks makes me think you have no idea about what happened and havent looked into it, just made some "wild assumptions".

Re: Researcher Who Stopped WannaCry Ransomware Detained in US After Def Con

#114

Post by CaptSpify »

godzillabrennus wrote: post #56
danesparza wrote: post #22

This reminds me of Kevin Mitnick: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kevin_Mitnick#Arrest.2C_convic... Do we need to create some "Free Marcus" bumper stickers?

Met Mitnick in Chicago last year at a bank that was paying him to demonstrate hacks for the audience. His business cards are amazing. I got stopped by security once because it was in my wallet.

https://www.mitnicksecurity.com/shopping/kevin-mitnick-lock-...

In case anyone else was wondering

Re: Researcher Who Stopped WannaCry Ransomware Detained in US After Def Con

#115

Post by hoorayimhelping »

strictnein wrote: post #78
jstanley wrote: post #5

> "I've spoken to the US Marshals again and they say they have no record of Marcus being in the system. At this point we've been trying to get in contact with Marcus for 18 hours and nobody knows where he's been taken," the person added. "We still don't know why Marcus has been arrested and now we have no idea where in the US he's been taken to and we're extremely concerned for his welfare." What the hell? How does s…

He's at the FBI field office in Las Vegas: https://twitter.com/MabbsSec/status/893166585736724481

According to people on Twitter, the EFF is getting involved.

Re: Researcher Who Stopped WannaCry Ransomware Detained in US After Def Con

#116

Post by solotronics »

anon1385 wrote: post #66
abhi3 wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

He could call his attorney have him release a statement right? Are you saying he is being denied access to a lawyer? Because that's a very serious charge and it would very silly of the FBI. IDK if I were arrested I would pray that the police abuse their power and deny me access to an attorney.

When the US government kidnaps non US-citizens they don't give you the chance to call your lawyer. You get stripped, beaten, sodomised and sedated. If you're lucky you get released after a few months of torture. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khalid_El-Masri >Khalid El-Masri (born June 29, 1963) is a German and Lebanese citizen who was mistakenly abducted by the Macedonian police in 2003, and handed over to the U.S. C…

"interrogated, beaten, strip-searched, sodomized, and subjected to other cruel forms of inhumane and degrading treatment and torture"... so exactly like hanging out with my ex.

Re: Researcher Who Stopped WannaCry Ransomware Detained in US After Def Con

#117

Post by hota_mazi »

sbarre wrote: post #24
christina_b wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I may be totally off base here but IIRC, before he ran MalwareTech and was a whitehat, he participated (and was an op) in fairly "shady" IRC channels, with his oldest nick I can recall being `Ntoskrnl`, dedicated to malware and malware development which even had a person ( Edit3: As pointed out in this thread, that person was `BetaMonkey/TouchMe`) who was selling a variant of a botnet drone client builder. Edit2: Fro…

Instead of apologizing for potentially spreading FUD and falsehoods, maybe you should refrain from posting until you have actual facts in hand?

There's an equal number of FUD and speculation going the other way, e.g. that he was arrested for no reason or that he was "disappeared".

Re: Researcher Who Stopped WannaCry Ransomware Detained in US After Def Con

#118

Post by Avery3R »

celticninja wrote: post #113
Traytorz wrote: post #101

I like how this malware writer/researcher claims he "found" the address and "miraculously saved" everyone by grabbing the domain. Not sure why everyone says he isn't the malware writer. What proof do you have that he didn't write it? Maybe he left a trail that you missed.

He found the address in the source code of the ransomware, any researcher could have found it. He even said himself that when he found it in the source code and saw it was unregistered he registered it to see what would happen. As it turned out it stopped infections from occurring. Not to say that he isnt the malware writer but your use of quote marks makes me think you have no idea about what happened and havent loo…

Pretty sure it was in disassembled machine code, not source code.

Re: Researcher Who Stopped WannaCry Ransomware Detained in US After Def Con

#120

Post by bitJericho »

gist wrote: post #94
holtalanm wrote: post #3

I'm curious what charges are being brought against him. For all we know, this detention is completely unrelated to WannaCry. We shall see.

> For all we know, this detention is completely unrelated to WannaCry. No everyone has already determined 'wow he did a good deed' and 'us law enforcement bad'. The fact is he is linked to this event and a person of interest who they want to get more info from. As such it makes total sense they would detain him for some questioning searches and so on. If you are someone who stops a crime you will also get questioned…

Everyone's determined 'us law enforcement bad' because it doesn't matter what crime he may or may not have committed. He was arrested in the US, which means he may be tortured or murdered, and if he's sentenced he almost certainly will be tortured through means such as prisoner assaults, permanent solitary confinement or abuse, or god knows what else. And heaven forbid he's sent to a military prison. He will never come out again.
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