Re:Arrest of WannaCry researcher sends chill through securit...
by bjpbakker on Friday August 04, 2017 @04:35PM
(#14932017)
> people who write malware to steal banking info should be prosecuted
I really disagree with you on this. The problem is not the person who researches different exploits (ie who may /write/ the malware) but with the people who /use/ the malware to do bad things.
When we keep preventing white hat researchers from doing their job, there's no defense against black hats.
If he actually sold Kronos for the sole purpose of stealing, I agree that he should be prosecuted. If he only used it for research purposes, this is a complete witch hunt.
Re:Arrest of WannaCry researcher sends chill through securit...
by Godel_unicode on Friday August 04, 2017 @09:07PM
(#14933663)
There's a pretty significant difference between exploit research and banking trojan development.
Re:Arrest of WannaCry researcher sends chill through securit...
by djrogers on Saturday August 05, 2017 @02:22AM
(#14934468)
You can’t just conflate exploit research and trojan creation with some hand waving. They are two very different things - not just different words.
Re:Arrest of WannaCry researcher sends chill through securit...
by criddell on Sunday August 06, 2017 @08:56AM
(#14941104)
> I think people who write malware to steal banking info should be prosecuted when possible.
If I write a program that can steal banking info, what law have I broken? Isn't it only the actual theft that's a crime?
However, I do not doubt that a mix of fear & incompetence could have resulted in his arrest as much as any concrete evidence of his involvement in Kronos. I think there's (perhaps rightfully) a culture of distrust and paranoia around law enforcement's interaction with ethical hacking. It's difficult to detach from that when legitimate prosecution happens.