They arrest a teenager in Japan for creating a new 'ransomware'

They arrest a teenager in Japan for creating a new 'ransomware'

The data hijacking program is similar to Wannacry, the virus that infected thousands of computers around the world

   A 14-year-old boy has been arrested in Japan for creating a data hijacking program ('ransomware') similar to Wannacry, responsible for the global cyber attack recorded last month, Japanese media reported today.

The boy, a student at a high school in Osaka Prefecture (west), is accused of creating a 'ransomware' - a computer program that limits or prevents users from accessing the computer or files unless they pay a ransom. through free encryption software.

   The student, who has admitted the accusations, created the ransomware, 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 a hundred times, allowed the user to infect the victim's computer and ask for a ransom in virtual currency, although no economic losses have yet been confirmed, added the same sources.

The young man, who supposedly learned by himself to create this type of program, revealed to the researchers that he only wanted to "become famous", according to the Japanese network NHK.

This arrest, the first of its kind in the Asian country, comes a few weeks after the WannaCry ransomware hit at least 150 countries and affected health centers in the United Kingdom, large companies in France and Spain, the network railway in Germany, public agencies in Russia or universities in China.

Some six hundred Japanese companies, including Hitachi and Nissan, were affected by this cyber attack.

Japanese computer security company Trend Micro has detected more than 65,000 'ransomware' attacks during the last year in Japan, a figure that is ten times the number of the previous year.