New York Partner Jay Kramer was recently quoted by HealthcareInfoSecurity.com in the site's article, "Boston Children's Hospital DDoS Attacker Convicted."
The article detailed the conviction of a "hacktivist" who in 2014 launched a series of distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks on Boston Children's Hospital and other regional healthcare facilities. The attacks were in response to a controversial and heavily-publicized child custody case. The hacktivist, a member of the hacking group Anonymous, argued that his DDoS attacks were designed to motivate Children's to change the way it was handling the custody case.
Mr. Kramer observed that the case highlights the fine line between protected speech and criminal acts in incidents of hacktivism. "The FBI and other federal law enforcement agencies consider free speech rights very carefully in this area, but when the evidence shows a clear intent to damage a computer network, law enforcement action, including arrest and prosecution, is appropriate," he said.
The results of an act of hacktivism can often determine the course of action authorities take. "When cases involve an act of violence or destruction, and they are undertaken in furtherance of stated social or political cause, they are sometimes also approached by the FBI and the Department of Justice as acts of domestic terrorism," Mr. Kramer noted.
Read the complete article here.
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