An alleged co-founder of the online hacker movement Anonymous has been taken into custody after a 2021 data breach targeting the Texas Republican Party.
Aubrey Cottle, a 37-year-old Canadian national, is known professionally as “Kirtaner.”
The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) charged Cottle with hacking into the Texas Republican Party’s web server and stealing sensitive data in 2021.
Cottle was arrested in Canada Wednesday, and authorities there are pursuing additional charges under Canadian law, the DOJ said.
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In Texas, Cottle faces charges of “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,” according to a press release.
The Texas state Capitol in Austin, Texas. (Tamir Kalifa/Getty Images)
Cottle uses his LinkedIn profile to describe himself as a “Filthy blackhat but good boi.” The same page shows Cottle as one of the founders of Anonymous, a decentralized hacker group aiming to breach governmental institutions in protest.
“Yes, that one,” Cottle wrote. “Hal Turner, Scientology, Guy Fawkes masks, you got it. Really. Google it.”
According to a news release from acting U.S. Attorney Margaret Leachman for the Western District of Texas, Cottle gained unauthorized access to a third-party hosting company called “Epik” before defacing the Texas GOP’s website.
“Texas: Taking voices from women to promote theocratic erosion of church/state barriers,” the Anonymous rewrite of the site’s landing page said. The banner of the website was replaced with cartoon characters, a pornographic image and a music video.
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The same release alleges Cottle stole a backup of the website’s server containing personal identifying information. The stolen data was then posted online for public download. Prosecutors added Cottle even bragged about the breach on social media.
Cottle’s TikTok page’s bio says “that Anonymous founder hacker guy you probably saw in the news or Vice or sumthn.”
The Department of Justice seal during a news conference at the DOJ office in Washington May 16, 2023. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
According to the DOJ, data from the Texas Republican Party leak was discovered in a search on Cottle’s personal electronic devices.
The Anonymous group’s breach of the website was allegedly pro-choice retaliation. In September 2021, the Lone Star State passed the Texas Heartbeat Act. Under the act, abortion is illegal past the point a fetal heartbeat can be detected, around five or six weeks of gestational age.
Cottle has also been linked to a “political doxing” data breach of Christian crowdfunding site GiveSendGo in February 2022, after the platform hosted a fundraiser for the Canada Freedom Convoy. Names of donors, intended to remain private and secure on the platform, were publicized across the internet.
Trucks parked in Ottawa on the 19th day of the Freedom Convoy protest. (Fox News Digital/Lisa Bennatan)
GiveSendGo founder Jacob Wells spoke with Fox News Digital at the time of the breach.
“This is illegal, and these people should be going to jail. The FBI — I mean, it’s surprising that we haven’t heard from any investigative services. We will be reaching out ourselves to just see that there’s some investigation into this. This is completely unacceptable,” Wells said.
GiveSendGo has a crowdfunding campaign for Luigi Mangione, who is accused of killing United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson in December 2024.
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The FBI Austin Cyber Task Force is investigating Cottle’s case, and Assistant U.S. Attorney G. Karthik Srinivasan is prosecuting the case. If convicted, Cottle faces a maximum penalty of five years in prison.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Texas did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
Fox News Digital’s Danielle Wallace contributed to this report.
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