A 26-year-old journalist denied any involvement, when he was charged with giving away the login and password for the Los Angeles Times newspaper’s computer system to a hacker after being fired, reports AP. BYU-Hawaii student had various comments about the alleged hacking and the hacker’s behavior.Matthew Keys was a social media editor who worked for three of the largest news-gathering organizations in America. He was a web producer at the Sacramento-based television station KTXL FOX 40, owned by the Tribune Co. He worked at ABC7 News and also at Reuters. However, two months after he was fired from FOX 40 in October 2010, the Tribune Co.’s computer system was hacked, reported CBSNEWS.An AP article says Keys was “charged with giving the hacking group Anonymous the login credentials to the computer system of The Tribune Co., which owns the Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune, Baltimore Sun and other media properties.”Lindsey Neff, a senior majoring in mathematic from California at BYUH, said the Tribune Co. “should figure out who hacked into their system,” learn from the incident and “put a better security system on their computer.”Christopher Patenaude, a sophomore majoring in ICS from Washington, said, “Personally, with journalism I think they would do anything to get a story, and I might not have believed him, but I don’t think you can really convict him of anything without evidence that he made a plan to hack” the Tribune’s computer system.Justin Bumgardner, a junior in business management from Colorado, said, “I think the way that somebody is let go from a company can have a good impact on this type of thing. If the company lets somebody goes in the right way with the right term, [it would let] them know that [the company] still cares about them, then maybe they [the company] can prevent people from getting mad and doing stuff like this.”Keys has been charged with giving away confidential information about the Tribune Co. to a hacker named Sharpie. According to CBSNEWS, when Keys appeared in court on April 22, his attorney, Jay Leiderman, said Keys “didn't do the acts he’s accused of doing,” but later he argued the incident was a joke that does not warrant 25 years of prison.“No one was hurt. There were no lasting injuries. No one’s identify was stolen. Lives weren’t ruined,” said Leiderman reports CBSNEWS. “It was a joke, and I guess a joke will get you 25 years in prison.”The AP reports that “Tribune employees spent 333 hours responding to the 2010 hacking that Keys is charged with orchestrating, costing the company of $17,650 in labor costs, according to an October 2012 search warrant affidavit filed by the FBI. The FBI searched Keys’ three-bedroom, two-bathroom apartment looking for computer equipment.”In legal documents, says AP, FBI agent Gabriel Andrews said there was probable cause to believe that Keys broke into the Tribune computer system after he was fired. He stole an email list of FOX 40’s customers, then “offered to sell this list to members of Anonymous,” according to the affidavit.
Writer: Robinia Tan ~ Multimedia Journalist
