PITTSBURGH — An Ohio man charged with conspiracy for allegedly claiming to be part of the computer hacking group “Anonymous” and posting a YouTube threat to release confidential computer information belonging to the University of Pittsburgh pleaded not guilty on Tuesday.

Alexander Waterland, 24, of Loveland, Ohio, and his attorney declined comment after his 15-minute arraignment before U.S. Magistrate Judge Maureen Kelly. A federal grand jury earlier this month indicted Waterland and Brett Hudson, 26, of Hillsboro, Ohio, on charges they posted the threats in April and May. Online court records don’t list an attorney for Hudson, who is scheduled to be arraigned in Pittsburgh on Sept. 6.

Although Pitt officials later determined their computer information was never hacked, the threats claimed it was and the FBI determined that Waterland and/or Hudson had downloaded some personal information from students and faculty and e-mailed some of it to Pitt officials to “prove” the hacking had occurred.

Using the “Anonymous” moniker, the suspects threatened that 200 gigabytes of hacked information would be publicized unless Chancellor Mark Nordenberg apologized for not safeguarding students whose information was allegedly stolen. Otherwise, the threat said, the students’ user names and passwords would be publicized, too.

The hacking threats were received just as the university has finished dealing with dozens of bomb threats, most of them e-mailed, that plagued the campus from February through April and caused some students to stay off campus, forced professors to move or cancel some classes, and prompted evacuations.

Although not directly related, investigators believe the hacking threats were meant to capitalize on the unease created by the bomb threats. One of the hacking threats even addressed that issue saying, “We also would like to mention that we have no ties with the current bomb threats as we do not condone violence or harm to any person. This would directly violate our ‘rules’ of engagement,” according to the indictment.

The Ohio men were charged by the FBI the same day as 64-year-old Adam Stuart Busby, of Dublin, Ireland, who is charged with sending 17 of the e-mailed bomb threats to the university.