Key Point: The alleged operator of the Kimwolf botnet was arrested after it compromised millions of IoT devices in six months and conducted record-breaking DDoS attacks reaching 30 terabits per second.
23-year-old Jacob Butler from Ottawa was arrested and charged in Canada and the United States for operating the IoT botnet Kimwolf. The network infected millions of devices and carried out DDoS attacks reaching up to 30 terabits per second.
Canadian authorities arrested a 23-year-old man from Ottawa on Wednesday on suspicion of building and operating Kimwolf – a rapidly spreading IoT botnet that compromised millions of devices for a series of massive distributed denial-of-service attacks over the past six months. Jacob Butler, known under the alias “Dort,” now faces charges for criminal hacking activities in both Canada and the United States.
According to the U.S. Department of Justice, Kimwolf targeted compromised devices that are normally protected from the internet – such as digital photo frames and webcams. The compromised systems were subsequently rented to other cybercriminals or forced to participate in DDoS attacks, which also affected infrastructure of the U.S. Department of Defense. The attacks reached a peak load of nearly 30 terabits per second, establishing a record for volumetric discharge. More than 25,000 attack commands were issued via the Kimwolf infrastructure; some victims suffered financial losses exceeding one million dollars.
Butler was connected to the administration of the botnet through IP addresses, online accounts, transaction records, and messaging data. As early as February 2026, the security community identified Butler as a botmaster. Following this, according to authorities, he employed threats and intimidation against security researchers involved in his prosecution, including swatting attacks.
On March 19, 2026, U.S. authorities, in cooperation with international partners, seized the technical infrastructure of Kimwolf and three other major DDoS botnets (Aisuru, JackSkid, Mossad). The Defense Criminal Investigative Service of the DoD supported the investigation together with the FBI office in Anchorage. Butler is currently in Canadian custody awaiting a court hearing scheduled for next week.
Source: krebsonsecurity.com · Published May 21, 2026
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