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
Producer
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
“ I'm sick. I am fatally ill and keeping me here is cruel. And discrimination is cruel.” -Claire Elyse Brosseau
November 9, 2026
What flavour is Noor’s vape? How did Archie break their leg walking? And as an Albertan, what does Sam think about the referendum now that it’s over?
November 5, 2026
“ I'm a little sad for the students because they were robbed, frankly, of their cause.” -Simone Rodan-Benzaquen, senior envoy for Europe at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies
November 2, 2026
“Every time I feel or hear sirens, I feel like they’re coming for me.” -Daniel Brown, one of the last inmates of Ontario's "training schools"
October 26, 2026
“The idea that we would be having a secession referendum in the most prosperous province, in one of the most successful liberal democracies in the world, is absurd.” -Patrick Lennox, author of On Treason
October 19, 2026
“Public dollars require public accountability, and every publisher in this country should want that.” -David Skok
October 12, 2026
“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
all podcasts arrow All Podcasts
CANADALAND