US Judge Sets $30,000 Bail for UK Hacker Who Helped Stop WannaCry

A US judge in Las Vegas set a $30,000 bail on

Friday for a well-known British cyber-security researcher accused of advertising and selling malicious code used to pilfer banking and credit card information.

Marcus Hutchins, 23, gained celebrity status within the hacker community in May when he was credited with neutralising the global WannaCry ransomware attack.

His attorney, Adrian Lobo, told reporters Hutchins would not be released on Friday because the clerk's office for the court closed 30 minutes after his hearing concluded, leaving his defence team not enough time to post the bail.

Lobo told a local NBC affiliate that Hutchins would be released on Monday and that she expected him to be on a flight on Tuesday to Wisconsin, where a six-count indictment against him was filed in US District Court. He was receiving support from a "variety of sources" around the world to post his bail, she said.