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The Latest: Researcher who helped halt cyberattack applauded
Associated PressMay 13, 2017

LONDON (AP) — The Latest on the global cyberattack (all times local):

9:25 p.m.

Cybersecurity officials in Britain have applauded a young researcher for helping halt the global ransomware cyberattack.

In a post on its website, Britain's National Cyber Security Center said that by registering a domain name that unexpectedly stopped the spread of the malware, the anonymous Britain-based cyber specialist, known as Malware Tech, had prevented further infections and "already resulted in preventing over 100,000 potential infections."

The researcher tweeted Saturday that he initially didn't know that his actions would stop the malware.

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9:15 p.m.

A U.S. cybersecurity researcher who helped halt a global cyberattack says he's pleased that the outbreak was stopped fairly quickly but he worried about the possibility of another attack in the next few days.

Darien Huss is a 28-year-old research engineer for the cybersecurity firm Proofpoint. The western Michigan resident and Purdue University graduate on Friday discovered a "kill switch" in the malware used in a cyberextortion scheme that was quickly spreading around the world.


Huss shared the information with a British researcher, known as Malware Tech, who had unexpectedly stopped the malware's spread by registering a domain name.

Huss says he's thankful it wasn't someone "with malicious intent" who discovered how to stop the attack. But he says it wouldn't be difficult for those responsible to re-release it or for others to mimic it.

https://www.yahoo.com/tech/latest-turkey-among-countries-hit-095511731.html