Disney Cruise Line Rescues Anonymous Hacker At Sea, Who Was Later Arrested
Disney Cruise Line has had an interesting month with some mechanical trouble on the Disney Fantasy and a suspected man overboard on the Disney Magic. Now, it’s been revealed that the Disney Wonder recently picked up a sailor and his wife from a sailboat off the coast of Cuba. Little did they know that the man is a suspected Anonymous hacker who has now been arrested by the FBI.
On Tuesday, the Disney Wonder rescued Martin Gottesfeld and his wife from a sailboat near Cuba, according to NBC News. One day later, the man from Massachusetts — and suspected hacker — was arrested by the FBI in Miami.
He was charged with conspiracy for allegedly helping launch a computer attack on Boston Children’s Hospital. Gottesfeld has been under FBI investigation since October, 2014, and the 31-year-old is a suspected member of the group Anonymous.
It was then that the FBI learned the suspected Anonymous hacker was nowhere to be found.
Tuesday, an FBI agent from the Bahamas called the bureau’s office in Boston to advise them that Gottesfeld and his wife were on a Disney Cruise Line ship. The couple were picked up from a sailboat not far from Cuba.
In their possession was some luggage and three laptop computers, according to an affidavit from the FBI.
“Gottesfeld and his wife were not passengers on the ship but rather had been picked up in a sailboat, not far from Cuba. The sailboat had run into trouble and Gottesfeld and his wife had placed a distress call, to which the cruise ship responded.”
It is not known where the couple was going or where their intended destination was. The papers did state that Gottesfeld had indeed posted a YouTube video calling for action in the “name of Anonymous” against a local hospital for their treatment of “Patient A.”
Patient A is being described as a teenage girl “who was the subject of a high-profile custody battle between her parents and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.” Her name has not been revealed and her parents are not identified in the papers from the FBI either.
As the papers continue, there is a bit more info about Patient A though, and who she is in reference to Anonymous.
“…the issue of Patient A’s custody and medical care became a national media story, with religious and political organizations and others asserting that the case was an example of government interference with parental rights.”
Boston Children’s Hospital issued a public “thank you” to the FBI for the arrest of Martin Gottesfeld which revealed they were the target of the Anonymous hacking attack. They are thankful the FBI is “holding him accountable” for his actions.
At this time of year, the Wonder is the only Disney Cruise Line ship using Miami as its home port.
Disney Cruise Line was simply reaching out to help as they’ve done in the past with rescuing those in trouble at sea. Little did they know that the person they rescued this time was a hacker who is suspected to be a part of Anonymous and would soon be arrested.
[Image via Disney]
