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Matthew Keys

Matthew Keys34 posts

Matthew Keys is an American journalist, who is the Managing Editor of Grasswire, a social news site. On October 7, 2015, he was found guilty of giving computer credentials to members of the Anonymous group who then hacked into his former employer. He was sentenced to two years in prison.

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1 Dec, 2010

Sends ‘Cancerman’ emails

Hacking Incident0 Comments

Canceman email 1

Keys sends a series of emails to his colleagues at Fox 40, under aliases related to the TV show, The X Files. The “Cancerman emails” outline various grievances the writer has with the company’s ethics, including claims that the station dropped a news story because the subject threatened to pull its advertisements, and that the station invaded viewers’ privacy through a contest email promotion. Keys then sends emails to the contest email list about KTXL Fox 40’s perceived misconduct. Fox40, already on edge from the threats, spends hours fielding emails from upset viewers. Later Keys admits to sending the emails saying:

The emails was, was to be antagonistic, you know…It was more or less hooliganism.

Dec 2010

Gives Tribune credentials to Anonymous

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Hacked LA Times pageKeys identifies himself on an Internet chat forum as a former Tribune Company employee and provides members of Anonymous with a login and password to the Tribune Company server. He encourages the Anonymous members to disrupt several Tribune companies and urged that the Los Angeles Times should be “demolished.” Keys:

Go f-ck some shit up.

Hackers uses the credentials provided by Keys to log in to the Tribune Company server and make changes to the web version of a Los Angeles Times news feature, changing a headline to read: “Pressure builds in House to elect CHIPPY 1337.”

Hacker: [T]hat was such a buzz having my edit on the LA Times
Keys: Nice

Keys also changes the access credentials of FOX40 employees, interfering with their ability to access company servers, and obtained email addresses for FOX40 viewers, to whom he sends disparaging emails about the company. According the the company Keys’ actions caused the mobile version of the Times to be offline for a day, and resulted in thousands of dollars in costs for the Tribune Company in responding to the breach of its systems by shutting backdoor access credentials and assessing the full extent of the damage.

Nov 2010

Hijacks Fox 40 Facebook, Twitter accounts

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According to the FBI, after he leaves the company Keys retains the passwords to Fox40’s social media accounts, and prevents access to them by the company. He sends messages from the accounts to the public. He also deletes thousands followers from the company’s  account.