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The guy who stopped WannaCry just wants to be left alone

MalwareTech, 22, was doxxed by the British tabloids.

Gianluca Mezzofiore

on May 16, 2017

The guy who stopped WannaCry just wants to be left alone

Marcus Hutchins, a.k.a. MalwareTech. Credit: AP/REX/Shutterstock

The guy known as MalwareTech is sure getting a lot of attention, very suddenly.

The British security researcher stopped the WannaCry ransomware from spreading further with a brilliant albeit accidental trick -- he bought an unregistered domain linked to the malware, thus inadvertently activating a "kill switch."

For his endeavour, he was awarded a $10,000 bounty by HackerOne, a network of ethical hackers and bug bounty programs.

He said on Twitter that he plans to split the bounty between charities and educational resources for students who cannot afford them:

This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed.

Since he revealed how he accidentally stopped a global cyber attack, MalwareTech has been doxxed by the British tabloids.

On his Twitter page and blog, there are no names, details, or head shots, which should be a clear indication that he wished to remain anonymous.

However, British tabloids outed him as 22-year-old Marcus Hutchins, who works for Los Angeles-based Kryptos Logic. They scouted around the depths of the internet to find his online footprint.

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