'WannaCry' Malware Taken Down By IT Expert With LA Ties

LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com) — A British cyber security expert crediting with stopping the global WannaCry malware attack reportedly works for a Los Angeles-based computer firm.

Marcus Hutchins, 22, is employed by Kryptos Logic, the Daily News reported. The company offers "a suite of services and solutions to disrupt attacker tactics, techniques, and procedures", according to its website.

Hutchins credited hundreds of other computer experts who also worked all last weekend to halt the spread of the online virus, which affected computers and networks across 150 countries, according to the Daily News.

He was reportedly analyzing a sample of the malicious malware's code when he noticed it was linked to an unregistered web.

WannaCry proved to be a new type of cyber threat in that it not only compromised users' computer files but held them for ransom - up to as much as $600 - or the files would be irreparably damaged.