March 14, 2013
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Reuters Producer Matthew Keys Indicted for Allegedly Conspiring with Anonymous
Reuters Producer Matthew Keys Indicted for Allegedly Conspiring with Anonymous [UPDATED]
He also shared information about his communication with Anonymous to Gawker.By Kelly Faircloth 3/14 5:13pm
Mr. Keys. (Photo: Twitter)
Power-Twitterer and Reuters deputy social media editor Matthew Keys has been indicted by the Justice Department. He stands accused of “conspiring with members of the hacker group ‘Anonymous’ to hack into and alter a Tribune Company website.” That would be the homepage of the Los Angeles Times.
All over Hollywood, overworked assistants were just dispatched to cobble together pitches due to hit theaters sometime in November 2013.
Before Reuters, Mr. Keys worked as a web producer for the Tribune Company-owned TV station KTXL FOX 40, in California. The DOJ says that in December 2010, after being “terminated” by Fox 40, he:
identified himself on an Internet chat forum as a former Tribune Company employee and provided members of Anonymous with a login and password to the Tribune Company server. After providing log-in credentials, Keys allegedly encouraged the Anonymous members to disrupt the website.
The indictment, uploaded by the Huffington Post, has even more gory details. The feds say Mr. Keys burrowed into the IRC back channels of Anonymous with the nickname “AESCracked” and handed them information on a silver platter:
Defendant MATTHEW KEYS then told the unidentified individuals that he was a former employee, proceeded to give them a username and passowrd, and told to “go fuck some shit up.”
When the hacker reported back with a mission accomplished:
sharpie: that was such a buzz having my edit
sharpie: on the LA Times
AESCracked: NiceMeanwhile, our old friend Sabu pretty much outed Mr. Keys back in 2011, but no one noticed:
It’s actually frighteningly easy to commit a computer offense that could land you in the clink. But it won’t hurt the DOJ’s narrative that Mr. Keys has tweeted things like:
Anonymous has weighed in, blaming Sabu for snitching:
To add another layer of intrigue, BuzzFeed’s Rosie Gray points out that Mr. Keys also fed Gawker at least one log of his chatroom interactions with Anonymous.
Mr. Keys faces counts of conspiracy to transmit information to damage a protected computer, transmitting information to damage a protected computer and attempted transmission of information to damage a protected computer.
(Update, 5:45) Guess Mr. Keys knew what was coming. Gizmodo reports that just last night, he told a friend he suspected his days at Reuters were “numbered,” though he said it was “just a feeling.”
Developing
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