Ethical hackers outcry: #FreeMalwareTech

MIAMI – The 23-year-old cyber hero who found a "kill switch" to stop the "WannaCry" malware attack that spread across 150 countries like wildfire in May is in trouble with the FBI, and ethical hackers are not happy about it. 

Marcus Hutchins, better known as Malware Tech online, plead not guilty to charges that he created, spread and maintained Kronos, a malware used to steal banking log in information, between 2014 to 2015.

"He has dedicated his life to researching malware, not to trying to harm people," his attorney, Adrian Lobo, told reporters after the hearing Friday. 

Ethical hackers worldwide were protesting with the "Free Malware Tech" hash tag. Some believe a previous post of him looking for a sample of Kronos is evidence of a conspiracy. 

"As a writer of code sometimes used in viruses, this worries me," Errata Security's Rob Graham tweeted. "People often ask me to add features, which I do willingly."

FBI agents believe Hutchins sold it for $2,000 in digital currency on AlphaBay, a dark site authorities shut down in July.  An FBI unit in Milwaukee gathered the evidence. 

Hutchins, who was born in Devon and works for a security company in Los Angeles, was arrested Wednesday in Las Vegas, where he was attending the Black Hat and Defcon security conferences. His bond was set at $30,000.