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Unhappily ever after: Hospital hacker rescued by Disney cruise ship sentenced to 10 years

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A man convicted of launching DDoS attacks against two Boston-area health care facilities was sentenced in U.S. District Court on Thursday to 10 years in prison.

Martin Gottesfeld, 34, of Somerville, Mass., was found guilty last August of attacking Boston Children’s Hospital and the Wayside Youth & Family Support Network back in 2014. Gottesfeld has identified himself as a member of the hacking group Anonymous, and said his attacks were motivated by how the medical facility had handled a high-profile custody case.

"Make no mistake, your crime was contemptible, invidious and loathsome," Gorton said, according to news reports. However, Gottesfeld said he had no regrets and plans to appeal the sentence, which also requires him to pay nearly $443,000 in restitution.

According to the Massachusetts U.S. Attorney’s Office, the attacks caused $18,000 in damages to Wayside, while the DDoS assault against Boston Children's Hospital cost the institution roughly $600,000 in repairs and lost donations.

As cyber investigators closed in on Gottesfeld, he fled with his wife by boat on Feb. 16, 2016. But when the vessel became stranded at sea, the couple placed a distress call for help. A Disney Cruise Line ship picked up the couple and dropped them off in Miami, where Gottesfeld was arrested.

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Bradley Barth

As director of multimedia content strategy at CyberRisk Alliance, Bradley Barth develops content for online conferences, webcasts, podcasts video/multimedia projects — often serving as moderator or host. For nearly six years, he wrote and reported for SC Media as deputy editor and, before that, senior reporter. He was previously a program executive with the tech-focused PR firm Voxus. Past journalistic experience includes stints as business editor at Executive Technology, a staff writer at New York Sportscene and a freelance journalist covering travel and entertainment. In his spare time, Bradley also writes screenplays.

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