Tag Archives: Matthew Keys

Articles of Interest

Matthew Keys Arraignment Delayed In Anonymous Case

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By The Huffington Post News Editors

A federal judge on Wednesday granted a joint motion to delay the arraignment of Matthew Keys, the 26-year-old social media editor for Reuters who was charged with helping hackers attack the website of his former employer.

Keys was supposed to make his first appearance in court in Sacramento, Calif., on Friday, but U.S. District Judge Edmund F. Brennan granted a request to continue the hearing until April 23 because Keys’ lawyer had a conflict.

Keys was indicted last month by a federal grand jury. Authorities say he provided Anonymous hackers with login information for The Tribune Network, telling to “go f**k some s**t up!” for his former employer. Keys has denied the allegations, and his lawyer told HuffPost he was acting as an undercover journalist when he hung out in Anonymous chatrooms.

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Source: FULL ARTICLE at Huffington Post

Articles of Interest

Matthew Keys Case Shows Rogue Employees Can Be Just As Dangerous As Hackers

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By The Huffington Post News Editors

The 26-year-old Reuters editor allegedly behind the hacking of the Los Angeles Times website in 2010 was not a hacker. He said so himself.

“I’m not a hacker,” Matthew Keys allegedly wrote in an online chatroom he shared with members of Anonymous. “I’m an ex-employee.”

Federal prosecutors charged last week that Keys used his access as a former employee of the Tribune Co. to help a hacker deface the website of the Los Angeles Times in 2010. The Tribune Co. owns the paper as well as the Sacramento TV station where Keys had worked until he was fired — two months before the hacking incident.

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Source: FULL ARTICLE at Huffington Post

Computers

Cyber crime punishment questioned by Internet advocacy group

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Digital rights activists are using a recent security breach involving the secretive group Anonymous as an opportunity to rail against a federal anti-hacking law called the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation isn’t defending the alleged actions of Matthew Keys, a former Tribune Company employee who could face as much as 25 years of jail time over federal charges accusing him of conspiring with members of Anonymous to hack into a Tribune website.

But the San Francisco-based advocacy group says current law means cyber crimes are often prosecuted much more severely than crimes of violence.

The EFF likens Keys’ case to the Justice Department’s prosecution of political activist and Internet innovator Aaron Swartz, in which he faced a maximumsentence of 35 years in prison and a $1 million fine. Swartz committed suicide in January.

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Source: FULL ARTICLE at PCWorld

Computers

Ex-Tribune staffer accused of conspiring in Anonymous hack

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A former Tribune Company employee could face as much as 25 years of jail time over federal charges accusing him of conspiring with members of the hacker group Anonymous to hack into a Tribune website.

Matthew Keys, who according to his LinkedIn and Twitter profiles is deputy social media editor at Thomson Reuters, has been charged with one count each of conspiracy to transmit information, transmitting information and attempting to transmit information to damage a protected computer, according to a federal indictment filed Thursday in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California.

If convicted, Keys could face 25 years in prison, three years of supervised release and a fine of $250,000 for each count, according to a press release from the Department of Justice.

Keys was previously employed as a Web producer for the Sacramento-based television station KTXL Fox 40, which is owned by Tribune. He was terminated in October 2010, and in December 2010 he gave Anonymous members log-in credentials for a computer server belonging to Tribune, and encouraged them to disrupt the website, the DOJ said.

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Source: FULL ARTICLE at PCWorld

Articles of Interest

Matthew Keys, Reuters Editor, Boasted Of Ties To Hacker Group Anonymous

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By The Huffington Post News Editors

Matthew Keys, a 26-year-old Reuters social media editor who has been charged with helping Anonymous attack the website of his former employer, often boasted about his interactions with the shadowy hacker group.

In a March 18, 2011, blog post on his personal Tumblr, Keys wrote that he spent two months communicating on Internet chat rooms with what he called “top level hackers within Anonymous.”

“I identified myself as a journalist during my interaction with the top-level Anonymous hackers and at no time did I offer said individuals any agreement of confidentiality,” he wrote. “In fact, I asked several of them for their feelings should they be exposed. They seemed, by and large, indifferent.”

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Source: FULL ARTICLE at Huffington Post

Articles of Interest

Reuters Editor Accused of Aiding Hack by Anonymous

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By John Johnson A social media editor for Reuters is in hot water, accused of exacting revenge on a former employer by helping Anonymous hack it. Federal prosecutors say Matthew Keys, 26, passed along log-in credentials to servers owned by the Tribune Co., reports the Guardian . His Anonymous pal allegedly used them to… …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Newser – Home

News, Politics, Government

Justice Dept. Charges Reuters Employee Matthew Keys With Helping Anonymous Hack Tribune Co.

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By Jeff Bercovici, Forbes Staff

A social media producer for Reuters faces federal prosecution after allegedly helping the hacker collective Anonymous break into the computer systems of the Los Angeles Times and its corporate parent, Tribune Co. The Department of Justice indicted Matthew Keys, a 26-year-old from Sacramento, Calif., on three counts of hacking-related felonies, which carry a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and $250,000. According to the indictment, which is embedded below, Keys is a former employee of the Sacramento television station KTXS-Fox 40, where he worked as a web producer. In December 2010, in an online forum used by Anonymous, Keys, under the username AESCracked allegedly shared a username and password that he told them would allow them to access the content management system of Fox 40 and the Times.  One hacker, operating under the screen name Sharpie, told Keys he “had a whole front page layout made for the chicago tribune” but “there [sic] sysadmins were good” and quickly shut down his access. Keys allegedly attempted to get Sharpie back into the system but was unable. Keys is scheduled to be arraigned April 12. Check back for updates as they come in. Usa vs Keys-Indictment by Vanna Le // …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Forbes Latest

News, Politics, Government

A Reporter's Indictment In The Dark World Of Hackers And Anonymous

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By Parmy Olson, Forbes Staff

Reuters reporter Matthew Keys has been indicted for allegedly feeding sensitive information about his former employer to hackers aligned with the subversive online network Anonymous. That news in itself will come as a shock to many journalists. Why would any reporter, freelance or otherwise, give such information to nameless individuals who could pilfer it for their own purposes? …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Forbes Latest