A Canadian hacker who claims to be a founding member of the notorious hacktivist group Anonymous has been arrested and charged in connection with a 2021 cyberattack on the Texas Republican Party.
Aubrey Cottle, a 37-year-old resident of Oshawa, Ont., faces criminal charges in Canada and the United States. He was granted bail this week and is scheduled to next appear in Oshawa court on May 8.
On Sept. 11, 2021, hackers claiming to be affiliated with Anonymous – a collective that first gained notoriety for wearing Guy Fawkes masks to protest against the Church of Scientology – infiltrated web-hosting company Epik.
After gaining access to Epik, the hackers then defaced the Texas GOP website, replacing its banner with cartoon characters, a pornographic image and a music video, according to a criminal complaint filed in the Western District of Texas and unsealed last week. They also downloaded a backup of the party’s web server, which contained personal identifying information, and shared it online.
Mr. Cottle, who goes by the online alias Kirtaner, allegedly bragged on social media that he was responsible for the attack, which he described as a counter to far-right extremism, according to the U.S. criminal complaint. The data stolen from the Texas Republican Party were found on Mr. Cottle’s electronic devices, authorities allege.
In a post on Discord, Mr. Cottle allegedly described Epik as being “known for providing services to websites that host far-right, neo-Nazi and other extremist content,” according to the U.S. court filing.
Mr. Cottle has been charged in the U.S. with unlawfully transferring, possessing or using a means of identification with the intent to commit, or aid or abet, or in connection with unlawful activity under state or federal law.
The U.S. criminal complaint against him was filed last September and unsealed on March 28, two days after he was arrested by Canadian authorities, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Texas. Mr. Cottle faces up to five years in prison if convicted on the U.S. charges.
On March 31, the Ontario Provincial Police announced that Mr. Cottle has been charged in Canada with mischief to computer data, unauthorized use of a computer, and possession of a device to obtain unauthorized use of a computer. The law-enforcement agency declined to release any further information about the case, citing a publication ban.
Mr. Cottle did not respond to requests for comment. None of the allegations against him have been proven in court.
Mr. Cottle has also taken credit on TikTok for hacking GiveSendGo, the crowdfunding platform that was used to fund the truck convoy protests that choked the streets of downtown Ottawa in the winter of 2022, according to Vice magazine and video posts viewed by The Globe and Mail.
The hack shut down GiveSendGo’s website. The names and locations of the truck convoy’s donors were later leaked online.
Mr. Cottle features prominently in a Netflix documentary about Anonymous called The Antisocial Network, which chronicles the creation of anonymous image board 4chan and its spawning of the hacking collective. Anonymous, which associated itself with leftist movements such as Occupy Wall Street, peaked in popularity around 2012. It then fell silent for years before re-emerging in 2020 in support of the George Floyd protests.
Near the end, the documentary depicts a police raid on Mr. Cottle’s home. In a post on Reddit a year ago, when the trailer for the documentary was released, someone identifying themselves as Mr. Cottle wrote that he has been busy rebuilding his life.
“Doing a lot better (very good 6 figure job, I’m happy, just generally Things Are Really Good Now),” the person wrote. Then, ominously, he added: “Also feds still have all my stuff and I don’t know if I’ll catch charges at some point, but hey.”