Backstory: How Reuters discovered the hacking days at Beto O 'Rourke

(Reuters) – Reuters journalist Joseph Menn revealed on Friday that Democratic presidential candidate Beto O'Rourke belonged to one of the most well-known hacker groups in his teens.

In minutes, his special report was the most popular story on Reuters.com and had been picked up by other media outlets. But the origin of the story goes back more than two years.

Members of the group, called the Cult of the Dead Cow, have protected O'Rourke's secret for decades, reluctant to compromise the political career of the former Texas congressman.

After more than a year of reporting, Menn persuaded O'Rourke to speak up. In an interview at the end of 2017, O'Rourke admitted that he was a member of the group, with the understanding that the information would only be made public after his run in the Senate against Ted Cruz in November 2018.

In an interview with Jane Lee, lead producer at Reuters, Menn explains how he broke the story and prompted O'Rourke to talk about his days of hacking.

"I decided to write a book on the dead cow cult because it was the most interesting and influential piracy group in history. They illustrated a lot of things that I think are fascinating about hacking and security work.

"While I was searching in the dead cow cult, I discovered that they had a member sitting in Congress. I did not know which one. But I knew that they had a congressman.

"And then I understood what it was. And the group members would not tell me who it was. They would not confirm it was this person unless I promised not to talk about it until the November election. This is because the member of Congress had decided to run for the Senate. Beto O'Rourke is who it was.

"I met Beto O'Rourke. I'm writing a book on Cult of the Dead Cow, I think it's really interesting. I know you were in this group. This book will be published after November and the race in the Senate is over. And he said, "OK."

"And he spoke to me of his time in the dead cow cult."

Menn explains more about the story on Twitter @josephmenn twitter.com/josephmenn