Aubrey Cottle, a Canadian hacker known online as “Kirtaner,” faces as much as two and a half years in prison in Ontario — and perhaps more time in the U.S. — for a cyberattack on the Republican Party of Texas.
Cottle, 39, who has long claimed affiliation with the hacktivist group “Anonymous,” pleaded guilty on Thursday to charges of fraudulently obtaining a computer service, causing mischief to data and failing to comply with bail conditions, according to The Globe and Mail.
The case stems from a cyberattack on Sept. 11, 2021, when hackers defaced the Texas GOP website with a message protesting the state’s recently passed law restricting abortion access. The website was flooded with memes, including one that jokingly accused Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, of being the Zodiac Killer. A link also was added to the site for donations to Planned Parenthood, along with a pornographic image and a music video, according to a criminal complaint filed by the FBI.
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The hack was made possible after a breach of Epik, the U.S.-based web host for the Texas GOP. Epik had become a target due to several controversial customers at the time, including the right-wing social media platforms Parler and Gab and the white nationalist website The Daily Stormer.
In a series of leaks following the defacement, the hackers also published internal data, such as personally identifiable information on Texas GOP employees and donors.
Prosecutors say Cottle made the hacked data available online and took credit for the hack on social media, including in a video he posted on TikTok. Authorities also said that searches by the Canadian police found the hacked data on his devices.
‘A waste of my gifts’
Prosecutors are seeking a two and a half year sentence for Cottle, who has been incarcerated since October in the Central East Correctional Centre in Lindsay, Ontario.
Cottle’s lawyers are asking that he be released on time already served. A judge will announce Cottle’s sentence on June 26.
In a statement to the court on Thursday, Cottle vowed to leave illegal hacking behind him.
“It’s a waste of my gifts, intellect and talents,” he said, according to Canadian news reports. “It’s cost me my home, my livelihood, many of my friends, a relationship, among other things. I have no desire to ever repeat any of this.”
Charges pending in US
The U.S. Justice Department filed charges against Cottle in 2025 over the same hack of the Texas GOP. If convicted and extradited from Canada, he could face another five years in prison in the U.S.
In a statement on X, Cottle’s lawyers, Riaz Sayani and Arash Ghiassi, said he had “formally accepted responsibility for his role” in the hack and the U.S. charges should be dropped in light of his guilty plea in Canada.
“No one should be prosecuted or punished twice for the same conduct,” Cottle’s lawyers said.
If the U.S. tries to extradite Cottle, they said, Prime Minister Mark Carney’s administration should “do the right thing and refuse” in order to “protect the integrity of our legal system.”
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