October 27, 2025
SHARE
CANADALAND
#1252 Vagrant Fugitive Hacker Warlord
“ The problem with saying who's gonna rule the fucking world is that there's someone else already claiming that title and they don't like the competition.” -Ian Thornton
Jesse Brown
Host & Publisher
Bruce Thorson
Senior Producer
Tristan Capacchione
Senior Production Supervisor
max collins
Director of Audio

The man known as Commander X helped orchestrate some of the most audacious cyber attacks in the world. Attacks against governments and corporations, even ranging as far as whaling ships, satellites, and the Pope.

In the U.S. he was a wanted man. The charges against him could have brought decades behind bars. So how did he pull off hiding in plain sight, for years, at a coffee shop in downtown Toronto?

 

Host: Jesse Brown

Credits: Tristan Capacchione (Audio Editor & Technical Producer), Bruce Thorson (Senior Producer), max collins (Director of Audio), Jesse Brown (Editor and Publisher)

Written and Presented by: Ian Thornton and Bruce Thorson

Fact checking by Julian Abraham

Additional music by Audio Network

 

More information:

 

Sponsors: 

oxio: Head over to https://canadaland.oxio.ca and use code CANADALAND for your first month free! 

Douglas: Douglas is giving our listeners a FREE Sleep Bundle with each mattress purchase. Get the sheets, pillows, mattress and pillow protectors FREE with your Douglas purchase today.  Visit https://douglas.ca/canadaland to claim this offer.

BetterHelp: Visit https://BetterHelp.com/canadaland today to get 10% off your first month.

 

Can’t get enough Canadaland? Follow @Canadaland_Podcasts on Instagram for clips, announcements, explainers and more.

It’s crowdfunding month here at Canadaland! The next 30 people to sign up today will either receive a FREE Douglas mattress protector or one-year subscription to the Slumber Studios Podcast. Become a supporter at canadaland.com/join today. 

You’ll get premium access to all our shows ad free, including early releases and bonus content. You’ll also get our exclusive newsletter, discounts on merch at our store, tickets to our live and virtual events, and more than anything, you’ll be a part of the solution to Canada’s journalism crisis, you’ll be keeping our work free and accessible to everybody.

You can listen ad-free on Amazon Music—included with Prime.

More from this series
“What’s my crime? Journalism? … I get that I piss off a lot of people with my articles.” -David Pugliese
October 5, 2026
 ”These are a group of white men coming to our area saying, "We bring you the gift of nuclear waste.” - Dennis
October 1, 2026
You can't really call Regina a news desert. They still have a newspaper. But if you actually look under the hood you’ll discover that they stopped printing the newspaper in Regina. They stopped editing it in Regina. The editor lives somewhere else. And as far the CBC goes, well, that acronym is now synonymous with layoffs. 
September 28, 2026
1438
I f you don't like what you're hearing, it's because it doesn't agree with your worldview, but you're interviewing an expert, and I'm giving you my expert analysis. -Dr. Peter McCullough
September 21, 2026
 We can surveil you. We can also perhaps even influence you, change the way that the game interacts with you in a way that might kind of subconsciously impact your understanding of the world. - Dr. Vinita Singh, associate professor of law, University of Minnesota
September 14, 2026
“ If they wanna draw Garfield and expose his  genitals,  you know, that's up to the fans.” -Nathen Mazri
September 7, 2026
“Everything changed when I treated it like a 9-5.”
September 3, 2026
“ I was fired because I condemned Hamas by calling them Nazis.” - Paul Finlayson
August 31, 2026
all podcasts arrow All Podcasts
CANADALAND