Cyber expert who stopped 'WannaCry' attack arrested in U.S. on hacking charges | Hacker News Reader

Cyber expert who stopped 'WannaCry' attack arrested in U.S. on hacking charges

reuters.com

34 pointshtoooh13 comments

In this case it seems like they're after him for creating and distributing something that was tailored for criminal use. Do we have any examples where the same laws were used to prosecute people who made multi-purpose tools like debuggers, packet sniffers, key loggers, etc?

If he actually hacked people with his code, then then they have a case. If not, then he's in a similar boat to gun manufacturers in my opinion.

I am interested in the legalities of this. There are other areas where legality of a sale is dependent upon the seller's knowledge or beliefs about the buyer's intent. For example, drug paraphernalia… if you sell someone a pipe in Mississippi, and they don't say anything or they mention tobacco, that is fine. However if they said they wanted to use it to smoke cannabis, completing the sale would be distribution of drug paraphernalia, even though it's the same item.

Yes, this is probably a better example..

The article says he was selling his software by advertising it as a tool to steal credit card and banking information from people infected by it. There is no legitimate purpose for that.

This is like a gun manufacturer advertising their gun as "Great for robbing liquor stores!"

Guns have plenty of legitimate uses. Self defense, hunting, and recreation. Guns aren't intended or even primarily purchased and used for criminal purposes. They will probably try to argue this tool was.

what exactly does 'cyber expert' mean? is that a polite way of saying 'computer nerd'? odd title.

I think it means he's an expert at cybering.

and what exactly does 'computer nerd' mean?

A nerd is a single-minded enthusiast. A computer nerd is a single-minded computer enthusiast.

I might get downvoted for this, but most of the time "nerd" also implies social awkwardness and uncoolness, and not getting laid a lot.

What I'm trying to say is, I don't like being called a nerd. Let's stop acting like we don't know it's unpleasant to call/be called a nerd.

Those used to be the connotations with the word 'nerd', but they really aren't anymore. Being a 'nerd' is cool these days, and nerd has become a term of endearment.

the reply was snarky because the definitions are essentially circular

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