| 3 US Marines missing after aircraft crashes off Australia Posted: 05 Aug 2017 01:25 PM PDT  SYDNEY (AP) — Search and rescue operations were underway for three U.S. Marines who were missing after their Osprey aircraft crashed into the sea off the east coast of Australia on Saturday while trying to land.
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| Plane crash at Swiss camp kills teens, pilot: police Posted: 04 Aug 2017 09:23 PM PDT  A plane crash at a Swiss summer camp on Friday killed two 14-year-old campers and the pilot, while leaving a third teenager seriously injured, police said. "My world has collapsed", said Yves Burkhardt, the general secretary of the Swiss aviation group Aero-Club that runs the camp. The pilot was experienced and had already taken another group of campers up for a flight earlier in the day, area police spokesman Roman Ruegg said.
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| WannaCry hero Marcus Hutchins could face 40 years in US prison Posted: 04 Aug 2017 08:49 PM PDT  The young computer expert who stopped the WannaCry global cyber attack could face decades in a US prison following accusations that he helped create and sell a malicious software that targeted bank accounts. Marcus Hutchins, who saved the NHS from cyber criminals, could face a maximum sentence of 40 years in prison in the US if he is found guilty of the charges. Hutchins, who was at a hacking conference in Las Vegas when he was arrested by the FBI, faces six counts of helping to create, spread and maintain the banking Trojan Kronos between 2014 and 2015. According to the US Department of Justice indictment, the alleged offences took place between July 2014 and July 2015. Hutchins was jointly charged with another individual who was not named. The indictment alleged that Hutchins "created the Kronos malware" and the other person later sold it for $2,000 (£1,500) online. "The maximum statutory sentence he could face is decades, roughly 40 years," said Tor Ekeland, a US lawyer who specialises in defending alleged cyber criminals. "Would he get that? I doubt it, it would be a bizarre outcome. Is it possible? It sure is." Hutchins is due to appear in court later on Friday, when he could plead guilty or not guilty. If he pleads guilty he could be sentenced to a short prison sentence or supervised release. If he pleads not guilty, he will be moved to Wisconsin, where the charges have been brought, to face trial, which could start any time between three months and three years, Ekeland said. "The main thing to do now is enter a not guilty plea as soon as you can, get him out on bail, and then you've got some breathing room," said Ekeland. But he added it is "highly likely" Hutchins will be refused bail, because he is a foreign national in the US and could be deemed a flight risk. Ekeland described the allegations against Hutchins as "very thin". "There's not a single allegation that he made any money or anybody came to any harm from it," he said. "The indictment is very thin. It's legally bizarre and there's little detail." Hutchins was arrested at an airport in Las Vegas on Wednesday shortly before he was due to fly back to the UK. Priority boarding so you can add to the time you're sat on a plane that is nowhere near ready to fly ��— MalwareTech (@MalwareTechBlog) 2 August 2017 The Kronos malware was spread through emails with malicious attachments and allowed users steal money using credentials such as internet banking passwords. It was allegedly sold on the dark web marketplace AlphaBay, which the US Government shut down at the end of July. The allegations are unrelated to the WannaCry attack he was credited with halting, according to a US official. The security expert, from Devon, was hailed a hero in May when he discovered a "kill switch" for the WannaCry ransomware, which spread to hundreds of thousands of computers across 150 countries. Among the victims were dozens of NHS Trusts, which were forced to delay operations and turn people away. About | WannaCry Hutchins, who stopped the attack from his bedroom under the pseudonym MalwareTech, has reportedly helped GCHQ's National Cyber Security Centre since the incident. A a source said the organisation collaborated with many private individuals and was "very much embedded in the community," of which Hutchins is a part. On his arrest, an NCSC spokesman said: "We are aware of the situation. This is a law enforcement matter and it would be inappropriate to comment further." Janet Hutchins, his mother, told the Telegraph she was trying to find out exactly what had happened to her son but said she had not yet managed to get anything confirmed. "I think I'm going to be rather busy tonight," she added. Cyber attack 'hero': I was just 'doing my bit' 00:59 A security expert who was staying with Hutchins at the DefCon hacking conference in Nevada said he had been arrested at Las Vagas's McCarran International Airport on Wednesday afternoon. The friend, who also works in the cyber security industry, said: "He was detained at McCarran airport yesterday. He checked into his flight and I think he was sitting in the Virgin upper class lounge. "He was escorted out of the airport and never made his flight." Around 20 hours after he went missing, Hutchins' parents told the friend he had been arrested. After his arrest, Hutchins was taken to Henderson Detention Center in Nevada before being moved to the Las Vegas FBI field office. "I had been trying to get in contact with him for the past 20 hours," the friend told the Telegraph. "I finally located him this morning but they moved him before visiting hours. Now he's in the wind again." A spokesman for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office said: "We are in touch with local authorities in Las Vegas following reports of a British man being arrested." The UK's National Crime Agency said: "We are aware a UK national has been arrested but it's a matter for the authorities in the US." I can confirm @MalwareTechBlog was detained yesterday and FBI/US Marshalls won't tell me where he is. https://t.co/lV5SxZjsRi— Andrew Mabbitt (@MabbsSec) August 3, 2017 Hutchins stopped the spread of the WannaCry ransomware when he accidentally discovered a "kill switch". Working on his own from his small bedroom in his parent's home, Hutchins has been lauded for his computer skills in the wake of the attack. The WannaCry attack spread to more than 230,000 computers in scores of countries, affecting major organisations including the NHS, Renault and O2. Using a vulnerability in Microsoft's Windows operating system discovered by US security agencies, WannaCry locked victims' computers and demanded a $300 ransom. Hutchins found a way to stop the virus from rapidly spreading. He was given a $10,000 (£7,600) reward for the effort, which he donated to charity. The ethical hacker, who is largely self-taught and did not go to university, was in the US for the world's largest annual conventions for security experts, BlackHat and DefCon. His arrest comes as more than £100,000 of digital currency bitcoin that was paid by victims of the WannaCry attack was withdrawn from the hackers' online wallets. There is no indication that the two events are connected. Victims were asked to pay around £230 in Bitcoins to get back control of their systems and monitoring websites showed the wallets holding the payments had been emptied on Thursday. No one has claimed responsibility for the attack but experts have connected it to Lazarus, a group also linked to the 2014 Sony Pictures hack. Experts warned the incident will send a "really bad message" to the cyber security community. "There are major implications for cyber security," said Ekeland, the US lawyer. "By doing this they've made the internet less safe because nobody in their right mind is likely to help the US Government stop attacks now. "They've sent a really bad message that even if you help the US Government stop a worldwide major malware attack and save people millions of dollars and potentially saved lives, you could be arrested because someone you supposedly associated with supposedly sold malware for $2,000." Ekeland added that creating and distributing malicious software is different to using it to commit crimes. "They're messing with a multi-billion dollar market," he said. "If I was a certain type of software manufacturer, I would be very concerned about my work right now. I don't understand why this type of software isn't legal." WannaCry ransomware map - locations of infection
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| Sea dispute, N. Korea, Muslim militants top ASEAN meetings Posted: 04 Aug 2017 08:13 PM PDT  MANILA, Philippines (AP) — Alarm over North Korea's missile tests, a tentative step to temper South China Sea disputes, and unease over a disastrous siege by pro-Islamic State group militants will grab the spotlight at annual meetings of Southeast Asia's top diplomats and their Asian and Western counterparts.
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| At Trump rally, West Virginia governor switches parties Posted: 04 Aug 2017 07:39 PM PDT  West Virginia Governor Jim Justice, standing next to President Donald Trump at a rally on Thursday night, announced that he was changing political parties, ditching the Democrats and joining Trump's Republicans.
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| Plane passenger spots man texting about sex abuse of kids Posted: 04 Aug 2017 05:47 PM PDT  A sharp-eyed airline passenger spotted another passenger texting about sexually assaulting children, leading officers in California and Washington state to arrest two people and find two young victims, authorities said Thursday.
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| San Francisco park where shooting occurred plagued by crime Posted: 04 Aug 2017 04:36 PM PDT  SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — The San Francisco park where three people were shot underwent a $20 million renovation last year and immediately became one of the city's most popular destinations — and a magnet for drug use, gang activity and violence.
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| Venezuela: Vatican calls on Nicolas Maduro's government to suspend constitutional assembly Posted: 04 Aug 2017 03:38 PM PDT  The Vatican has urged Venezuela's president not to proceed with a controversial new assembly that his critics say would give him unprecedented power. In a statement issued on the day Mr Maduro was set to install the new assembly - a vote for which last week was boycotted by the opposition parties and denounced as "rigged - the Vatican called on "all political actors, and in particular the government, to ensure full respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms and the existing constitution". "The Holy See appeals firmly to all of society to avoid all forms of violence and invites, in particular, the security forces to refrain from excessive and disproportionate use of force," it said.
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| Union battles to represent workers at Nissan US factory Posted: 04 Aug 2017 02:56 PM PDT  Efforts to unionize workers at a Nissan factory in the Deep South will reach a climax Friday in a bitter contest that critics say has laid bare a racial divide in the company. The United Auto Workers union and Nissan both say they are in a position to win the vote among the 3,400 workers in the Mississippi factory which concludes Friday. The National Labor Relations Board is expected to release results early Saturday of the vote, in which about 3,000 temporary and contract employees working in the plant are not eligible to cast a ballot.
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