14-Year-Old Japanese Boy Was Arrested For Creating Ransomware WannaCry

I got your mind. The headline actually shocked or startled you. The 14 years old boy was arrested in Osaka by Japanese authority. Osaka is a prefecture and large port city. He was arrested for allegedly creating and distributing Ransomware malware. This is the first such arrest in Japan involving a Ransomware-related crime.

Ransomware is a piece of malware that locks or encrypt computer files or hold the file at ransom till the PC owner pays through Bitcoin, in order to get the decryption keys for the encrypted or locked files. This malware has attacked many computers worldwide and the WannaCry ransomware hit over 300,000 PCs within just 72 hours just last month.

The 14-year-old Japanese boy who is a third-year junior high school student, created a ransomware virus and uploaded its source code on the Internet. Meanwhile, he admitted to the allegation that he combined free encryption software to develop his own ransomware infection and then uploaded it to a foreign website and even taught people to download and use it to spread further for financial gain.

He also advertised the malware on Facebook, Twitter and other social medias, telling people to download it but the authorities didn't reveal the identity of the young boy but, have informed that the student just took about 3 days to create the ransomware program using his personal computer.

The boy also revealed that he created the Ransomware by himself in order to be famous. The Japanese police spotted the ransomware during "cyber patrolling" in January and confiscated and seized the teen's computer after searching his house in April.


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