Somerville man accused of cyberattack against hospital arrested after being rescued by Disney cruise ship

By Dialynn Dwyer @dia_dwyer

February 17, 2016

1 minute to read

A Somerville man accused of orchestrating a cyber attack against a local hospital in the name of the hacking group Anonymous was arrested Wednesday in Miami, according to a statement from U.S. Attorney Carmen M. Ortiz’s office.

Federal prosecutors said Martin Gottesfeld, 31, and his wife were found in a small boat off the coast of Cuba after the couple made a distress call and a nearby Disney Cruise Ship responded to rescue them.

Gottesfeld has been charged with one count of conspiracy, in a criminal complaint unsealed Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Boston.

Authorities said the FBI searched Gottesfeld’s home in October 2014 in connection to the computer attack that disrupted the hospital’s network for about a week. The cyberattack was made “to affect the hospital’s handling of a teenage patient, who was the subject of a high-profile custody battle’’ between her parents and the state, according to the U.S. Attorney’s office. The hospital’s response and mitigation of the attack cost more than $300,000, according to the statement.

Prosecutors said the attack was one of two that Gottesfeld and others orchestrated.

Prosecutors said it was discovered Gottesfeld had fled the area when Somerville police checked the man’s apartment last week, after receiving concerned calls from the man’s employer and relatives and found no one home. Officials in Boston were notified Tuesday that Gottesfeld and his wife had been picked up by the cruise ship near Cuba.

If convicted, Gottesfeld could be sentenced to five years of prison, fined $250,000, and be ordered to make restitution, according to the U.S. Attorney’s office.