A deputy social media editor at Reuters has been charged with helping hacking collective Anonymous hack his former colleagues.
Matthew Keys is accused of giving Anonymous information which helped them hack into servers belonging to Tribune Company in 2010 to vandalise their sites. The company owns media properties including the Los Angeles Times and television station Fox 40.
Keys was previously a web producer at Fox 40. According to Mashable, the indictment by the US attorney in Sacramento reads: “He told [unidentified Anonymous hackers] he was a former employee, proceeded to give them a username and password, and told them to ‘go fuck some shit up.”
Tribune’s content management system was hacked into by Anonymous on December 15, 2010. On the day of the hack a story was published which claimed “Chippy 1337” was about to be “elected head of the [US] Senate”.
If convicted Keys could face up to 10 years in prison.
