Who was the guy who saved the Internet?

The Hacker Who Saved the Internet

It sounds like the plot of a cyber-thriller: a young hacker, once on the wrong side of the law, ends up stopping one of the most dangerous cyberattacks in history. That’s exactly what happened in 2017 when Marcus Hutchins, a British cybersecurity researcher, inadvertently became the unlikely hero who stopped the WannaCry ransomware from spreading further.

WannaCry infected hundreds of thousands of computers across the globe, crippling hospitals, businesses, and government systems. The malware encrypted files and demanded ransom payments in Bitcoin, spreading rapidly through networks like wildfire. As panic grew, Marcus—then just 22—was taking a break from monitoring the outbreak when he noticed a strange detail in the code: a domain name that wasn’t registered.

Out of curiosity, he registered it himself. That simple act—almost like flipping a switch—triggered a kill switch built into the malware, halting its spread. Overnight, Marcus became known as the man who saved the Internet. But his story isn’t just one of technical brilliance—it’s also one of redemption.

Years before stopping WannaCry, Marcus had dabbled in malware development during his teenage years, including a tool called Kronos used by cybercriminals. When he was later charged in the U.S. for that past activity, the tech world was divided: was he a criminal or a reformed hacker who ultimately did good? The truth, like most things, lies somewhere in the middle.

His journey, captured in Wired: The Confessions of Marcus Hutchins, the Hacker Who Saved the Internet, reveals a complex, human story behind the binary. He wasn’t a superhero or a villain—just a curious kid who made mistakes, grew up, and happened to be in the right place at the right time to do something extraordinary.