Security News > 2020 > February > Man Tied to Ex-Congresswoman Campaign Arrested in Hack Spree
The FBI on Friday arrested a man linked to former U.S. Rep. Katie Hill's 2018 House campaign for allegedly orchestrating a series of cyberattacks on a rival candidate that shut down the campaign's website for 21 hours.
The U.S. Attorney's Office in Los Angeles said Arthur Jan Dam, 32, of Santa Monica, California, surrendered and was taken into custody on a complaint that says his computer attacks in April and May 2018 cut off campaign donations for Democrat Bryan Caforio and contributed to his narrow loss to Hill in the primary election.
Prosecutors said Dam was married to a woman who worked for Hill, and federal records show he donated computer services to the campaign.
Caforio said he was shocked to learn that someone linked to Hill's campaign "Hacked my campaign in order to help her advance through the primary."
Caforio increased his cybersecurity after the initial attacks, but that was not enough to prevent a final disruption of the campaign's website just one week before the primary election, prosecutors said.