Journalist, Matthew Keys has been sentenced for 2 years on the orders of US Judge as he was found guilty of helping the members of the hacktivist group, Anonymous as he had assisted them in gaining access to the former employer’s computers, according to the spokesperson from the US Department of Justice.
Journalist Sentenced To 2 Years in Prison For Helping Anonymous
In 2013, Matthew Keys was accused for conspiracy to trigger damage to a protected computer and two other other counts, after being accused of giving hackers access to Tribune Computer system in December 2010. He was found guilty by a California Jury last October.
Justice Department had requested a five year sentence, while Keys requested trial.
Lawyer for Keys, Jay Leiderman said they will ask Keys remain free while they challenge US Computer fraud laws in the appeals courts.
“Ultimately we just hope Matthew is OK,” Leiderman said.
“In 2010, shortly after Keys left a job at a Tribune-owned television station in Sacramento, Calif., following a dispute with a supervisor, a story on Tribune’s Los Angeles Times website was altered by Anonymous hackers, the indictment said”.
“Prosecutors contended that Keys urged on the hackers after supplying a password. Keys’s lawyer argued he was operating as a professional reporter trying to gather information about members of Anonymous, an amorphous group that often conducts multiple hacking campaigns at once”.
Tribune Media Co said in a statement on Wednesday: “We’re pleased that the government considered this an important case, and we respect the court’s sentence.”
The alleged events in the indictment occurred before Keys joined Thomson Reuters as an editor for Reuters.com in 2012. A month after Keys was charged, he said Reuters dismissed him. A Thomson Reuters representative had declined to comment on the case.
Reuters
