A popular social media editor with the Reuters new agency has been indicted on charges that he conspired with the
hacker group Anonymous to break into the network of news company
Tribune Co, according to the US Department of Justice.
Matthew Keys, 26, is alleged by prosecutors to have given the
hackers login credentials for a computer server at Tribune shortly
after he was fired in October 2010 from a TV station owned by the
company in California.
Keys, who was suspended Friday by Reuters according to the
Huffington Post, allegedly contacted the Anonymous members via an
online chat room and after giving them the login details urged them
to "go fuck some shit up."
According to the Department of Justice, he worked with Anonymous
to "make unauthorized changes to web sites that the Tribune Company
used to communicate news features to the public; and to damage
computer systems used by the Tribune Company."
His alleged misdeeds came to light when one of the hackers, known
by the screen name of Sabu, became an FBI informant last year.
Keys has been charged with three counts related to transmitting
information to damage a "protected computer" and faces a total of up
to 25 years in prison, nine years of supervised release and a fine of
750,000 dollars if found guilty. Keys is scheduled to appear in
federal court in Sacramento on April 12.
