Japan Arrests 14-Year-Old For Creating WannaCry-like Ransomware Virus

Japanese authorities on Monday arrested a
14-year-old boy for creating a ransomware
virus similar to WannaCry which was
responsible for global cyberattacks last
month.


The boy, a student at a secondary school in
Osaka prefecture, is accused of creating the
ransomware — a malware, or malicious
software programme that limits or prevents
users from accessing the computer or files
unless they pay a ransom — through free
encryption software, Efe news reported.


The student, who admitted to the
allegations, then uploaded it to a foreign
website and taught users of the platform to
download and use it, according to sources
quoted by the Kyodo news agency.


This ransomware, which has been
downloaded 100 times, allowed the user to
infect the victim’s computer and asked for
virtual currency as ransom, although the
economic toll has not yet been confirmed,
added the same sources.



himself how to create this type of
programme, revealed to the investigating
authorities that he only wanted to become
famous, according to state television
channel NHK.




His arrest comes after WannaCry’s
ransomware hit at least 150 countries and
health centres in the UK, large companies in
France and Spain, railways networks in
Germany, public institutions in Russia and
universities in China.



Some 600 Japanese companies, including
Hitachi and Nissan, were affected by this
cyberattack.



Japanese IT security company Trend Micro
has detected more than 65,000
ransomware attacks over the past year in
Japan, a figure 10 times higher than that of
the previous year.