SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — A well-known social media journalist was sentenced to two years in federal prison Wednesday after he was convicted of conspiring with the hacking group Anonymous to break into the Los Angeles Times’ website and alter a story.
Despite his role in the news media, federal prosecutors in Sacramento say Matthew Keys, 29, of Vacaville was simply a disgruntled employee striking back at his former employer.
U.S. District Judge Kimberly Mueller sentenced him Wednesday after he was convicted in October of providing login credentials to The Tribune Co.’s computer system.
The company owns the Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune, Baltimore Sun and other media companies including FOX affiliate KTXL-TV in Sacramento.
Keys worked at the television station until he was fired two months before the December 2010 hacking.
He was convicted in October of providing the login information that a hacker used to gain access to the Times’ computer system and change the story. Prosecutors say Keys posted the information in an Internet chat room, urged hackers to attack his former employer and praised the outcome.
When charges were filed in 2013, he was fired from his then-employer, the Reuters news agency.
His attorneys argued the hacking was a relatively harmless prank. Restoring the story’s original headline, byline and first paragraphs took less than an hour and cost less than the $5,000 required to make the violation a felony, they argued unsuccessfully.
Keys’ attorneys did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Prosecutors said employees spent 333 hours responding to the hack at a cost of nearly $18,000.
“Although he did no lasting damage, Keys did interfere with the business of news organizations, and caused the Tribune Company to spend thousands of dollars protecting its servers,” U.S. Attorney Benjamin Wagner said in a statement. “Those who use the Internet to carry out personal vendettas against former employers should know that there are consequences for such conduct.”
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OK, what Keys did was wrong. But if he caused the Tribune Company to spend thousands of dollars protecting their servers, then they were dropping the ball… they should have been protecting their servers before the hack.
Um, why is Anonymous stooping to hacking a website to alter a story?
Isn’t that pathetic?? I mean, of all the corruption, the graft, the inequities that exist in all societies, is this really the best they can do? I expect a lot more from them.
This guy was threatened with 25 years for a Twitter crime. Got 2 years. Affluenza kid, 4 deaths, got 2 years. Blankenship, many more deaths, 1 year.
Not impressed.
He should do two years (18 months with good behavior) for being so stupid. Wanna-have tech-savvy has consequences it seems.
That’s right, folks. They put their best guys on it — only cost nearly $54 an hour! (BTW: It was actually 29.422 hours, but they sent the figure to a CPA who, after consulting a mathematician and consolidating their fees, arrived at 333 hours, after much rounding.
The nation has priorities, you know.