A Canadian man has been arrested in connection with a high-profile hacking incident that targeted the Texas Republican Party and the Texas Right to Life anti-abortion group. Aubrey Cottle, 37, was taken into custody last Wednesday in Canada, where he now faces multiple charges related to the data breach.
Cottle, known by his online alias "Kirtaner," is accused of infiltrating Epik, a third-party hosting company that managed the websites for the Texas Republican Party and the anti-abortion group Texas Right to Life.
According to the US Department of Justice, Cottle gained unauthorized access to Epik’s systems, which allowed him to deface and download a backup of the Texas Republican Party’s web server. The server contained sensitive personal identifying information, prosecutors say.
Cottle allegedly shared the stolen data online and boasted about the attack on social media. Law enforcement agencies later discovered the stolen data on Cottle’s devices during a search of his home in Ontario, Canada.
The charges against Cottle, filed in the Western District of Texas, include unlawfully transferring, possessing, or using a means of identification in furtherance of a crime. If convicted, Cottle faces a maximum sentence of five years in prison.
The criminal complaint, unsealed in late March 2025, includes evidence such as screenshots of Cottle bragging about the attack in chats on Discord and a TikTok post where he admitted to being behind the breach. Investigators also uncovered 20 terabytes of stolen data during the raid on Cottle’s residence.
As a key member of the Anonymous collective, Cottle has earned a large following on social media and has been featured in several documentaries exploring the activities of the hacking group. His previous exploits include hacking into conservative organizations, such as the crowdfunding platform GiveSendGo and the Freedom Convoy 2022 campaign, which led to a raid on his home by Canadian police in 2022.
