SACRAMENTO (Reuters) - Former Reuters.com Deputy Social Media Editor Matthew Keys pleaded not guilty on Tuesday to federal charges that he aided members of the Anonymous hacking collective.
Keys, 26, on Monday said he was fired by Thomson Reuters , the parent company of Reuters News.
Keys was indicted in March by a federal grand jury in Sacramento on three criminal counts, alleging he entered an Internet chatroom used by members of the hacking collective Anonymous and helped hackers gain access to the computer system of Tribune Co. in December 2010. A story on the Tribune's Los Angeles Times website was altered by one of those hackers, the indictment said.
The alleged events occurred before he joined Reuters in 2012, the indictment indicated.
Keys was silent during the hearing in federal district court in Sacramento as his lawyer Jay Leiderman entered the plea. A status conference was set for June 12.
"He was a journalist in that chatroom, absolutely, but he didn't do the acts he was accused of doing," Leiderman told reporters outside the courtroom. It appeared as if someone else assumed Keys' chatroom identity, he said.
Since the indictment, Keys has continued to tweet about himself and about news events. Thomson Reuters has confirmed that he no longer works at the company.
The maximum for conviction on all three counts would be 25 years in prison, although actual sentences handed down by judges are often far less than the maximum.
In his job at Reuters, Keys posted news from Reuters and other sources on both company Twitter feeds and other means, including his own Twitter account.
He was suspended from Reuters after last month's indictment and his access to his Reuters email account was cut off. He continued to tweet from a personal account, @TheMatthewKeys, and identified himself as an editor at Reuters.
Keys in a blog post on Monday wrote that his coverage of the Boston Marathon bombing last week — such as tweeting information from police scanners that ended up being incorrect — was one of the reasons he was given for his termination. He has changed his profile description to "Former Deputy Social Media Editor at @Reuters".
A Thomson Reuters spokeswoman declined to comment.
The case in U.S. District Court, Eastern District of California, is United States of America v. Matthew Keys, 13-82. The case in U.S. District Court, Eastern District of California, is United States of America v. Matthew Keys, 13-82.
(Reporting By Peter Henderson; Editing by Martin Howell)
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A Reuters journalist has been indicted by a US federal grand jury for allegedly handing over the login credentials of his former employer, Los Angeles Times parent company Tribune Co., to people claiming allegiance to the hacker movement Anonymous.
Reuters.com, which currently employs 26-year-old Matthew Keys as a deputy social media editor, suspended him with pay on Friday.
An employee at the company's New York office said that Keys's workstation was being dismantled and that his security pass had been deactivated, according to subsequent reporting from Reuters.
The US Department of Justice announced the indictment [PDF] on Thursday.
Keys was indicted on three criminal counts:
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.
Prosecutors claim that Keys promised to give hackers access to Tribune Co. websites, and that one went on to deface a story on the company's Los Angeles Times website.
From a Department of Justice statement:
"Keys 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 exact wording of said encouragement, according to the indictment, being Keys telling the hackers to "go f**k some s**t up."
On Thursday, Keys tweeted that he had found out about the indictment the same way most of us did: via Twitter.
I am fine. I found out the same way most of you did: From Twitter. Tonight I'm going to take a break. Tomorrow, business as usual.— Matthew Keys (@TheMatthewKeys) March 14, 2013
The story told by court filings is of a disgruntled former employee who acted as a double agent with Anonymous hackers, working both with them and against them.
The case began in December 2010, when Keys allegedly provided the login credentials for a computer server belonging to KTXL FOX 40's corporate parent, the Tribune Company.
The indictment maintains that Keys identified himself on an Internet chat forum as a former Tribune Company employee and that he handed over a login and password for the server.
According to the indictment, the hacker ultimately defaced a Los Angles Time news story, changing its headline, byline and sub-headline to include the name "CHIPPY 1337".
Also, a line in the article was changed to read:
"House Democratic leader Steny Hoyer sees 'very good things' in the deal cut which will see uber skid Chippy 1337 take his rightful place, as head of the Senate, reluctant House Democrats told to SUCK IT UP."
The indictment further claims that Keys chatted with the hacker who claimed credit for the defacement, offering to try to regain access for him after system administrators fended off the hacker and locked him out.
When he learned of the hacker's ultimate success in defacing the Los Angeles Times page, Keys allegedly responded, "nice."
It's a long and twisty story, involving famed (and subsequently busted) former Anonymous top dog Sabu having outed Keys back in March 2011.
http://tinyurl.com/mattkeysexposed AESCracked/Matt Keys was former producer for Tribune sites. Gave full control of LATimes.com to hackers.— The Real Sabu (@anonymouSabu) March 22, 2011
Buzzfeed has done a great job of pulling together all the intricacies of Keys's story, including an image of the defaced Los Angeles Times new story, a blog post from Keys about losing his job at the local FOX Affiliate in Sacramento, California, and more, including this statement from Keys's current employer, Thomson Reuters:
"We are aware of the charges brought by the Department of Justice against Matthew Keys, an employee of our news organization... Thomson Reuters is committed to obeying the rules and regulations in every jurisdiction in which it operates. Any legal violations, or failures to comply with the company's own strict set of principles and standards, can result in disciplinary action. We would also observe the indictment alleges the conduct occurred in December 2010; Mr. Keys joined Reuters in 2012, and while investigations continue we will have no further comment."
Will Keys get fired from Reuters? Should he?
Buzzfeed checked in with a Reuters employee who said that yes, if Keys is found guilty of divulging login credentials while at Reuters, he will have violated the company's Trust Principles, which is grounds for immediate dismissal.
What if Keys is found guilty of working with Anonymous only before Reuters hired him?
It's hard to imagine any reputable news venue countenancing the type of betrayal alleged in these charges.
If I were a Reuters editor or lawyer, I'd be finding ways to ensure Keys didn't come back from his suspension in the eventuality of a guilty verdict.
This case may look a little muddy given that journalists working undercover can act as double agents, but the fact is, Keys wasn't working for the news outlet at the time of the breach he allegedly helped to bring about.
As far as what non-journalists can take away from this, the lesson is this: priority No. 1 should be to shut down accounts for terminated employees.
Shuttering accounts should be a priority, but it often isn't.
You can't assume that a disgruntled former employee won't open up your systems to spammers, plant malware, or replace the CEO's presentation with porn.
If found guilty, Keys is looking at a maximum of 10 years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000.
Former British Prime Minister Gordon Brown delivers his speech during the opening session of the Global Progress Foundation Conference in Madrid October 18, 2011.
Credit: Reuters/Sergio Perez/Files
LONDON | Mon Jan 2, 2012 5:25pm IST
LONDON (Reuters) - British police have found evidence that private investigators working for newspapers hacked into the email account of former Prime Minister Gordon Brown while he was finance minister, The Independent newspaper reported on Monday.
Hundreds of other people may have also had their emails intercepted, perhaps as many as were caught up in the phone hacking scandal at News International's now defunct News of the World tabloid, the paper said.
Detectives were looking at evidence from about 20 computers seized from private investigators, the newspaper reported.
The team at London's Scotland Yard police headquarters were looking into the possibility that several newspaper titles commissioned private detectives to access computers, The Independent said, citing an unnamed source.
The Brown emails under scrutiny dated from the time he was Britain's finance minister before he became prime minister in 2007. Former Labour advisor and lobbyist Derek Draper was also targeted, The Independent said.
The Metropolitan police would not comment on the report.
"We are not prepared to give a running commentary on this investigation," a spokesman said.
News International, the British newspaper arm of Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation (NWSA.O), also declined to comment.
The group closed the News of the World in July 2011 after evidence emerged that investigators working for the title hacked into the mobile phone voicemails of celebrities, politicians and even murder victims.
It is the only newspaper that has admitted phone hacking, although some journalists and celebrities have said the practice was widespread in the tabloid press.
News International's titles were not singled out in the Independent's report on email hacking.
(Reporting by Paul Sandle; Editing by Andrew Heavens)
The website of the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) is unresponsive and unavailable after reports that the website had been attacked by internet hackers in Washington June 15, 2011.
Credit: Reuters/Jim BourgBy Peter Apps and William Maclean
LONDON | Wed Jun 22, 2011 12:20pm EDT
LONDON (Reuters) - - The rogue hackers behind brazen cyber attacks are clever online technicians but have a critical human frailty -- petulant personalities prone to infighting that may spell disaster for their raids on spies, banks and companies.
At least that's the hope among state cyber sleuths racing to track down the Lulz Security (LulzSec) hackers responsible for a wave of attacks on Western governments and multinational companies.
Britain arrested a 19-year-old man on Tuesday as part of a joint investigation with the U.S. FBI into LulzSec, which claims responsibility for computer attacks on the U.S. CIA, Britain's Serious Organized Crime Agency (SOCA) and Sony Corp.
Britain's top policeman called the arrest "very significant." LulzSec rejected suggestions the teenager was a leading figure.
The young cyber vandals are so technically accomplished that relying on intelligence and security agencies to beat them would be a mistake, experts say. The alternative is to turn them against each other -- a feat the Internet's anonymity and the hackers' self-absorption and competitiveness makes easier.
"Our best bet quite honestly is the fact that they are all attacking each other quite happily," said Tony Dyhouse, a security expert at Britain's ICT Knowledge Transfer Network.
He told Reuters that one tactic used by LulzSec's opponents had been to post misleading messages in its name, and then sit back and watch tempers flare online.
"Although LulzSec is growing hugely in numbers, it seems to be fighting to keep itself as a cohesive unit."
"This is our best hope, since groups like this, because they are all so ego-driven and want to remain anonymous, get different people (falsely) claiming to speak for them and so they lose control," he said.
Steve Watts of computer security firm SecurEnvoy said the hackers were driven by fame and success "so like rival businesses they will fight for the top."
But there is no room for complacency -- an attitude cyber security specialists say remains prevalent in boardrooms.
"The reality is that the skills of many hackers - where they can code in multiple languages, trace and exploit any technological or insider vulnerability - will be a match for any trained security professional," John Suffolk, a former Chief Information Officer of the British government, told Reuters.
Peter Wood, CEO of security firm First Base Technologies, said it was "all too easy to be complacent about what is perceived as 'hacktivist culture'."
TEAMING UP
LulzSec's members are believed to be scattered around the world, working together by means of secret Internet chat rooms. Suspected leaders include hackers with the handles Kayla, Sabu and Topiary, security experts say. Hackers often use several personas to confuse sleuths.
LulzSec drew heightened attention when it said this week it was teaming up with the Anonymous hacker activist group to cause more serious trouble and obtain classified information.
But in addition to cooperating, hacker groups can also battle each other online.
A hacker group opposed to LulzSec called Team Web Ninjas started a blog this month to expose LulzSec, releasing what it said were logs of conversations from a private LulzSec chatroom and providing names of alleged leaders.
Then there are occasional tensions between LulzSec and the Anonymous group, of which it is believed to be an offshoot, despite their periodic collaboration in cyber raids.
LulzSec suffered what appeared to be a public rift within its own ranks on Tuesday evening, following news of the arrest.
In response to online statements that the group had hacked the results of Britain's latest census and was about to release it online, the group put out a message saying that unless such a release was preceded by the words "Tango Down," LulzSec would not have been the entity responsible.
Ryan Cleary, named by British media as the teenager arrested on Tuesday, was himself involved in a bustup with the broader Anonymous group in May, according to hacker websites, after which Anonymous retaliated by publishing his first name.
His mother, Rita, 44, told the Daily Mail her son suffered from agoraphobia and attention deficit disorder, and had not left his home for four years.
LulzSec wrote on its Twitter website: "Clearly the UK police are so desperate to catch us that they've gone and arrested someone who is, at best, mildly associated with us. Lame."
In a comment on a hacker chatroom on Tuesday, a participant wrote: "He hasn't gone to jail and won't. It's just the police trying to get information on LulzSec, which I should imagine is why they are hyping it up (60 years in jail) to get him to talk."
LulzSec has also published the names and personal details of two individuals it says were members, in retaliation for what it said was the disclosure of information about the group to law enforcement authorities.
Dyhouse said enmities were such that it appeared that sometimes "it doesn't need us to set them against each other.... There's no honor amongst thieves."
(Additional reporting by Mohammed Abbas in Wickford; Editing by Peter Graff)
BRASILIA (Reuters) - Hackers briefly disabled three websites belonging to the Brazilian government early on Wednesday in the latest of an international wave of cyber attacks on companies and organizations.
The sites for Brazil's federal government, presidency, and tax collection agency were inaccessible to the public for about two and a half hours overnight but their operation has since been restored, Gilberto Paganotto, the head of Brazil's computer data agency, told Reuters.
Paganotto said the hackers did not access sensitive information from the sites. He said he was unaware of the source of the attack.
However, the website for Brazil's Estado de S.Paulo newspaper said that the Lulz Security group of hackers had taken credit for the attack.
LulzSec has made widely publicized assaults on Sony Corp, the CIA, News Corp's Fox TV, the British police Serious Organized Crime Agency and other targets. The attacks have mostly resulted in temporary disruptions to websites and the release of user credentials.
LulzSec said on Monday in a Twitter message that it was seeking to hack government websites to leak "classified government information."
(Reporting by Jeferson Ribeiro and Brian Winter; editing by Mohammad Zargham)
A Reuters journalist has been indicted by a US federal grand jury for allegedly handing over the login credentials of his former employer, Los Angeles Times parent company Tribune Co., to people claiming allegiance to the hacker movement Anonymous. 
Buzzfeed checked in with a Reuters employee who said that yes, if Keys is found guilty of divulging login credentials while at Reuters, he will have violated the company's Trust Principles, which is grounds for immediate dismissal. 
