Prolific tweeter and former Reuters social media editor Matthew Keys, charged with computer hacking under the Computer Fraud & Abuse Act, was found guilty today on all counts and faces up to 25 years in prison when sentenced in January.
#Cyber News: Jury Convicts Former Producer for Conspiring to Hack LA Times Servers http://t.co/9pH0hUSsgN
— FBI (@FBI) October 7, 2015
As Twitchy reported in 2013, Keys, once a web producer for Sacramento-based television station KTXL FOX 40, was terminated in 2010. He allegedly identified himself on an Internet chat forum as a former Tribune Company employee, provided members of Anonymous with a login and password and encouraged Anonymous members to hack the company’s website.
Motherboard.com contributing editor Sarah Jeong reports that the Los Angeles Times, which was hacked into and altered for around 40 minutes, claims the hack cost the company $929,977.
Here’s the headline that was altered by Anonymous and supposedly caused nearly $1 million in damages.
Sentencing on these charges is dependent on damage & loss. Tribune Co. says it experienced almost a million dollars in loss.
— sarah jeong (@sarahjeong) October 7, 2015
Oh give me a break https://t.co/kT9NGPEjlw
— Anthony DeRosa? (@Anthony) October 7, 2015
Prosecutor: "This is not the crime of the century," but nonetheless Keys should not get away with what he did to Tribune Company
— sarah jeong (@sarahjeong) October 7, 2015
Even if you think @MatthewKeysLive did something that wrong, it certainly isn't 25 years worth of wrong.
— Ben Ratner (@BenMakesTV) October 7, 2015
For defacing an @LATimes article for 40 minutes, journo @MatthewKeysLive faces 25 years. Years. #PrisonPolicy https://t.co/Ae9YszVEiH
— Edward Snowden (@Snowden) October 7, 2015
FBI: Although @MatthewKeysLive did 'no lasting damage', he interfered with 'the business of news organizations' https://t.co/zbQ5AWuL5W
— Hashem Said (@hash_said) October 7, 2015
That's an inaccurate headline for over an hour now at @WIRED (Tribune, LATimes, not Reuters) pic.twitter.com/6UYC9PKWG8
— Anthony DeRosa? (@Anthony) October 8, 2015
Jeong says it’s unlikely that Keys will be sentenced to the full 25 years.
US Attorneys Office just told me they will likely seek less than 5 years in prison for Matthew Keys.
— sarah jeong (@sarahjeong) October 7, 2015
Looks like the government, which reportedly lost sensitive information on 21.5 million federal employees and 5.6 million fingerprints to Chinese hackers, is taking hacking pretty seriously.
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