Social media editor at Reuters indicted for hacking LA Times

A grand jury has charged Matthew Keys, social media editor at international news service, Reuters, with helping the hackers’ group Anonymous to break into the computer system of the publisher of the LA Times in order to alter its website.

The allegations are set out in a stunning indictment revealed by the Justice Department on Thursday. Keys faces three federal charges: one for conspiracy and two related to sharing malicious code. The indictment also shows an instant messaging session in which Keys and a hacker named “sharpie” gloat over hacking the Times and commiserate that the publisher has locked Keys out of the system.

Key’s biography page at Reuters is still up for now and says he was hired in 2012 as Deputy Social Media Editor, a relatively senior position that involves sharing newswire stories over platforms like Twitter and Facebook. Here’s a screenshot:

The indictment also states that Keys’ decision to supply passwords from the Tribune Company, his former employer, allowed Anonymous to alter a political story in the LA Times to say that “uber skid Chippy” take his place as head of the Senate and that Democrats should “suck it up.”