4 ms·

Why in heaven's name did he travel to the US?

saosebastiao 9y ago
I'm sure he was thinking, "hey, what's the harm? It's a first world country!". Classic mistake.
deft 9y ago
DEFCON. I'm sure a lot of people wanted to see him there. What crime did he commit anyway? There was no reason for him to worry at all...
sovietmudkipz 9y ago
There is an annual security focused convention going on this week called "Defcon" that many security focused engineers typically attend. Since wannacry was a big thing that happened between this year's con and last year's con, and because Hutchins is a security researcher, I'm sure he was invited to attend if not give a talk.
- hota_mazi 9y ago
  That doesn't answer OP's question. Why travel to the US if just three years ago, he broke multiple US cyber laws? Answer: because he's not as smart as he thought.
thieving_magpie 9y ago
removed, misunderstood parent.
- justboxing 9y ago
  > Since we're all speculating, No we are not. He was here for Black Hat and DEFCON > Shortly before his arrest, Hutchins was in Las Vegas during Black Hat and Def Con, two annual hacking conferences. Source: https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/ywp8k5/researcher-who-stopped-wannacry-ransomware-detained-in-us-after-def-con https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/ywp8k5/researcher...
CydeWeys 9y ago
It's not clear to me why he should've expected arrest. He didn't write the virus, he shut it down. The arrest makes no sense. It's not a reasonable thing to have expected. I was at DEF CON too, for what it's worth.
- mikeyouse 9y ago
  There's almost zero chance that he was arrested for stopping Wannacry. I'd guess a 23-year old in that business has a history of "less-than-white-hat" activities...
  - CydeWeys 9y ago
    There's several other comments in this thread now saying things to that effect. I suppose that's not too surprising.
  - eric_h 9y ago
    > I'd guess a 23-year old in that business has a history of "less-than-white-hat" activities... Indeed, and given that he's only 23 years old, there's a good chance the statute of limitations has not been reached for those activities.
  - rockdoe 9y ago
    Wouldn't be surprised if this gets a lot of other people in the field thinking.
    - kbenson 9y ago
      That's an interesting position to be in. If you're legit now but you have some past event which might be uncovered, do you approach the DOJ (through a lawyer, of course) to turn yourself in and try to cut a deal, maybe probation and free consulting services for TLAs for a few years, or do you just hope it never comes to light? Then again, any deal probably means informing on friends and acquaintances of that period and scene. You could try to contact some of them and see if you could go forward together, but then you're setting yourself up for a prisoner's dilemma situation.
whipoodle 9y ago
I know that he was going to a conference, but I wonder why anyone bothers to travel here for simple tourism anymore. It seems awfully unnecessarily risky.
justboxing 9y ago
He was here for DEFCON > It's now been reported that Hutchins, after attending the DEF CON hacker event in Las Vegas, has been arrested. Source: https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/ywp8k5/researcher-who-stopped-wannacry-ransomware-detained-in-us-after-def-con https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/ywp8k5/researcher...

I'm sure he was thinking, "hey, what's the harm? It's a first world country!". Classic mistake.

deft 9y ago

DEFCON. I'm sure a lot of people wanted to see him there. What crime did he commit anyway? There was no reason for him to worry at all...

sovietmudkipz 9y ago

There is an annual security focused convention going on this week called "Defcon" that many security focused engineers typically attend. Since wannacry was a big thing that happened between this year's con and last year's con, and because Hutchins is a security researcher, I'm sure he was invited to attend if not give a talk.

hota_mazi 9y ago
That doesn't answer OP's question. Why travel to the US if just three years ago, he broke multiple US cyber laws? Answer: because he's not as smart as he thought.

thieving_magpie 9y ago

removed, misunderstood parent.

justboxing 9y ago
> Since we're all speculating, No we are not. He was here for Black Hat and DEFCON > Shortly before his arrest, Hutchins was in Las Vegas during Black Hat and Def Con, two annual hacking conferences. Source: https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/ywp8k5/researcher-who-stopped-wannacry-ransomware-detained-in-us-after-def-con https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/ywp8k5/researcher...

CydeWeys 9y ago

It's not clear to me why he should've expected arrest. He didn't write the virus, he shut it down. The arrest makes no sense. It's not a reasonable thing to have expected. I was at DEF CON too, for what it's worth.

mikeyouse 9y ago
There's almost zero chance that he was arrested for stopping Wannacry. I'd guess a 23-year old in that business has a history of "less-than-white-hat" activities...
- CydeWeys 9y ago
  There's several other comments in this thread now saying things to that effect. I suppose that's not too surprising.
- eric_h 9y ago
  > I'd guess a 23-year old in that business has a history of "less-than-white-hat" activities... Indeed, and given that he's only 23 years old, there's a good chance the statute of limitations has not been reached for those activities.
- rockdoe 9y ago
  Wouldn't be surprised if this gets a lot of other people in the field thinking.
  - kbenson 9y ago
    That's an interesting position to be in. If you're legit now but you have some past event which might be uncovered, do you approach the DOJ (through a lawyer, of course) to turn yourself in and try to cut a deal, maybe probation and free consulting services for TLAs for a few years, or do you just hope it never comes to light? Then again, any deal probably means informing on friends and acquaintances of that period and scene. You could try to contact some of them and see if you could go forward together, but then you're setting yourself up for a prisoner's dilemma situation.

whipoodle 9y ago

I know that he was going to a conference, but I wonder why anyone bothers to travel here for simple tourism anymore. It seems awfully unnecessarily risky.

justboxing 9y ago

He was here for DEFCON > It's now been reported that Hutchins, after attending the DEF CON hacker event in Las Vegas, has been arrested. Source: https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/ywp8k5/researcher-who-stopped-wannacry-ransomware-detained-in-us-after-def-con https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/ywp8k5/researcher...