A federal indictment was unsealed today charging Arturas Samoilovas, age 35, of Stow, Ohio, with one count of transmitting and attempting to transmit computer codes, programs or commands, intending to cause damage to a protected computer, said Steven M. Dettelbach, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Ohio, and Stephen D. Anthony, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI’s Cleveland office.
“This defendant sought to disrupt a company’s operations through its computer system,” Dettelbach said. “Cyber security is a priority for our office, to protect both our national security and the companies and employers in our district.”
“Mr. Samoilovas, a former contractor at Eaton with considerable knowledge of the company’s computer networks, must be held responsible for his criminal actions,” Anthony said. “If activated, his placement of malicious software, also known as ‘malware’, would have caused significant damage to Eaton Corporation’s internal computer network.”
Samoilovas was employed at Eaton Corporation as a contract employee between November 2013 and May 21, 2014, where he worked as a financial analyst. Samoilovas applied for several other positions at Eaton prior to the expiration of his temporary employment contract, but was not selected, according to the indictment.
On or about May 21, 2014, Samoilovas accessed the Eaton Corporation computer system and inserted certain malicious computer codes, programs or instructions which would delete files or data from the Eaton Corporation computer system. The malicious code was discovered after Samoilovas contacted a former co-worker on May 23, 2014, and disclosed the existence of the malicious code, according to the indictment.
The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Robert W. Kern following an investigation by the Cleveland office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
If convicted, the defendant’s sentence will be determined by the court after review of factors unique to this case, including the defendant’s prior criminal record, if any, the defendant’s role in the offense and the characteristics of the violation. In all cases, the sentence will not exceed the statutory maximum and in most cases it will be less than the maximum.
An indictment is only a charge and is not evidence of guilt. A defendant is entitled to a fair trial in which it will be the government’s burden to prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.
SOURCE: U.S. Attorney’s Office, Northern District of Ohio