Deric Lostutter: How the FBI Caught Up to an Anonymous Hacker

Impact

"Greetings Citizens of the World, I am Deric Lostutter, and this is my story."

In a blog post published today, Anonymous hacker Deric Lostutter, aka KYAnonymous, has revealed that he led the campaign to organize digital and real-life protests and leaked information in the case of the rape of a 16-year-old girl by two Steubenville football players. Lostutter claims to be revealing his identity in order to help raise support for what he believes to be a grand jury investigation targeting him.

Lostutter, 26, explains that his Winchester, Kentucky home was raided by the FBI in April in search of evidence related to the hacking of the Steubenville High School booster club website, rollredroll.com. Lostutter describes the raid on his website: "As I open the door to great the driver approximately 12 FBI SWAT team agents jumped out of the truck screaming for me to 'Get The Fuck Down' with M-16 assault rifles and full riot gear armed."

As part of Lostutter's protest campaign, he enlisted the help of a hacker named Batcat who in February claimed to have broken into the Roll Red Roll website within 15 minutes by guessing the webmaster's email address. KYAnonymous's involvement in the case in late 2012 gained him national renown, at one point giving an interview to CNN in a Guy Fawkes mask, as pictured above.

Gawker reports: "Lostutter is being represented by Jason Flores-Williams of the Whistleblower's Defense League, a coalition of lawyers who specializes in defending hacktivists and freedom of information campaigners."

"We certainly hope the United States comes to its senses and decides not to indict, and if they do we will aggressively litigate the incident," said Flores-Williams. "What's unique here to me is that it's not a national security issue. This isn't at the forefront at the NSA or the CIA. This comes out of the heartland of the country, and this is a person who is just trying to do what is right for the heartland."

The Whistleblower's Defense League has set up a fund for Lostutter’s defense. The page reads: "The Whistleblower Defense League is honored to represent Deric Lostutter pro bono, but he needs our help to try and equal the playing field against the infinite war chest of the U.S Government. Deric had the courage to stand up against rape — should we not now have the courage to stand with him?"

The two Steubenville football players were found guilty of rape in March. You can read more about Lostutter and see the FBI warrant here