Canadian, U.S. authorities charge Ottawa man in cybercrime operation that infected millions of devices

An international effort to take down a far-reaching cybercrime operation has led to the arrest of an Ottawa man who now faces charges in both Canada and the U.S.

Jacob Butler, 23, is accused of helping develop and operate Kimwolf, a botnet that — along with Aisuru — is responsible for hacking millions of devices and servers worldwide, including IP addresses that are part of the U.S. Department of Defense Information Network.

Ontario Provincial Police cybercrime investigators arrested Butler on Wednesday. They had searched a home in Ottawa in March and seized several electronic devices.

Butler has been charged with unauthorized use of a computer and two other charges related to cyber mischief.

He remains in custody and is scheduled to appear in the Ontario Court of Justice on Tuesday.

Butler has also been charged by the U.S. Department of Justice and is facing one count of aiding and abetting computer intrusion, for which he faces up to 10 years in prison if convicted.

An international investigation

Running parallel to the OPP’s investigation, the United States and Germany also conducted their own independent operations targeting botnet administrators and infrastructure.

According to a press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Alaska, the botnets, which are a network of internet-connected devices, work together to infect a multitude of different devices. In this case, the botnet allegedly targeted tech like digital photo frames and web cameras.

Once successful, hackers then sell access to the compromised devices to other cybercriminals.

“Law enforcement allegedly connected Butler to the administration of the Kimwolf botnet through IP address, online account information, transaction records, and online messaging application records obtained through the issuance of legal process,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office wrote in their release.