News for hackers. Stuff that matters.

A comment on Arrest of WannaCry researcher sends chill through security community. Parent comment

Re:Arrest of WannaCry researcher sends chill through securit... by tptacek on Friday August 04, 2017 @04:16PM (#14931853)
If you know the person licensing it from you is going to use it to steal financial information, and the clear purpose of the tool you've built is to steal financial information, then I would say you should definitely make sure you have a criminal defense lawyer you trust and can afford.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Arrest of WannaCry researcher sends chill through securit... by uyhso8 on Friday August 04, 2017 @05:26PM (#14932428)
I don't think anyone would disagree with what you just said, but given the way prosecutors deal with "intent" sometimes, I think it would be easy for them to cross a line.

If you haven't already, listen to this podcast about Doug Williams and polygraphs: https://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/618/...

There's a lot of parallels and how issues of intent can get very grey.

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Arrest of WannaCry researcher sends chill through securit... by tptacek on Friday August 04, 2017 @05:27PM (#14932432)
They're required to prove intent at trial.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Arrest of WannaCry researcher sends chill through securit... by travmatt on Friday August 04, 2017 @05:46PM (#14932601)
As I understand it this is the crux of the case - that the creation of such software isn't illegal, but sale with the intent to be used in the commission of a crime is. I understand the indictment is pretty barebones, so I wonder what exactly they are basing their allegations of intent on.
[ Parent | on HN ]