WannaCry Malware Stopper Marcus Hutchins Arrested By FBI At LA Airport

British security researcher Marcus Hutchins has been detained by the FBI. He is accused of his role in creating malicious software called Kronos to target bank accounts.

His arrest comes as a surprise as the 23-year-old was earlier credited with stopping the WannaCry outbreak.

The US Department of Justice said the British man has helped in the creation, spreading as well as maintaining of the banking trojan between 2014 and 2015.

The trojan is learned to have been spread though emails and was capable of hijacking credentials to steal money.

Hutchins is known for his handle MalwareTech and was arrested at an airport in Las Vegas where he attended the annual DEF CON hacking conference.

He became a hero in the month of May by registering a website that acted as a kill switch for the malware.

In the same month the WannaCry malware spread rapidly and infected hundreds of thousands of computers across the world in a day.

The malware encrypts hard drives of computers and thereafter ask a ransom of $300 in bitcoin to decrypt the system.

Hutchins is presently being held at the Las Vegas field office of the FBI. He is an employer of Kryptos Logic cybersecurity firm.