national / News / North Carolina / politics Tillis denies KKK involvement, Anonymous distances itself from yesterday’s dox

We were skeptical. This is why.

The multi-headed, faceless hacker group Anonymous continues to distance itself from yesterday's leak, in which a hacker who bills himself as Amped Attacks dumped a mess of data on a website often used by Anonymous, alleging that a handful of American politicians, including U.S. Sen. Thom Tillis, the Republican from North Carolina, were involved with the Ku Klux Klan. 

The leak came as the hacktivists claimed they would out 1,000 Klan members on Thursday as part of an action called “HoodsOff,” coinciding with last year's protests in Ferguson and Guy Fawkes Day. Anonymous began targeting the hate group after KKK members reportedly threatened lethal force against Ferguson protesters last year. Per the Operation KKK Twitter feed: 

November 4th 2015 #OpKKK Tweetstorm https://t.co/qkjzhqCiXe November 5th 2015 #HoodsOff Bulk Data Release pic.twitter.com/KmNR3uwq2W

— Operation KKK (@Operation_KKK) November 2, 2015

Tillis did not respond to the INDYs repeated requests for comment Monday, although the senator's office told WLOS in Asheville that the claims were untrue. 

Meanwhile, Anonymous said it had nothing to do with Amped Attacks’ attack, and that it had not released anything about KKK members—yet. Amped Attacks apparently did not meet the crypto-anarchist group’s standards for publication. 

This account has NOT YET released any information. We believe in due diligence and will NOT recklessly involve innocent individuals #OpKKK

— Operation KKK (@Operation_KKK) November 2, 2015

We respect the work of our fellow freedom fighters. However, we are unable to confirm, deny or take credit for any work that we did not do.

— Operation KKK (@Operation_KKK) November 2, 2015

Amped Attacks, meanwhile, said he had nothing to do with Anonymous, but like them, he respected his comrades’ work. 

i am not apart of anonymous nor have i ever claimed to be,i am my own man that acts on my own accord.i do however respect #OpKKK

— Amped Attacks (@sgtbilko420) October 29, 2015

Still, despite the denials of basically every named politician and at least some of the private citizens on Amped Attacks’ supposed KKK list, he stands by the veracity of his work. He claims he hacked the KKK’s website to find the list of names he published. (And yes, we are presuming that he is, in fact, a he.)  Per the website TechCrunch: 

The list, which can be found on Pastebin, is unconfirmed although Amped Attacks claims to have cross-referenced KKK databases with public email addresses for the public figures in question.

“I worked for nine days to gather and verify all the information that was gathered before its release. I got the information from several KKK websites when I [hacked] them and was able to dump their database. I went through many emails that was signed up with these sites and a few of the emails that sparked my interest was the ones of the politicians in question there would be no reason for them to be signed up on any KKK website unless they supported it or was involved in it.”

I Am Releasing the proof to several news medias today,once i release them will be going dark for awhile Ty For all The Support

— Amped Attacks (@sgtbilko420) November 2, 2015

Sending out all the screen shoots database dumps to multiple news media within the hour they will sort out the proof and report it

— Amped Attacks (@sgtbilko420) November 2, 2015

And, for good measure, he took credit for taking down the websites of both the KKK and the Westboro Baptist Church.