When Matthew Keys allegedly handed over the passwords of his former employer to members of the hacker group Anonymous a couple of years ago, he probably didn't think it would lead to an indictment.
However, the U.S. Department of Justice announced today that Keys was being indicted on three 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.
Keys, 26, currently works as a deputy social media editor at Reuters but used to be a Web producer for the Tribune Company, which owns the Los Angeles Times. According to a statement from the Department of Justice, Keys allegedly passed the Tribune Company's login credentials onto members of Anonymous, who then defaced a news article posted on the Los Angeles Times' Web site.
"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," the Department of Justice statement says. "After providing log-in credentials, Keys allegedly encouraged the Anonymous members to disrupt the website."
The indictment claims that Keys went by the name AESCracked in the chat forum and had conversations with the hacker who claimed to have attacked the Los Angeles Times Web site.
more here:
http://intellihub.com/2013/03/16/reuters-editor-indicted-on-anonymous-conspiracy-charge/