Fired Sacramento TV Station Web Producer Sentenced to Prison

SACRAMENTO, CA - Former Sacramento web producer and network site administrator Matthew Keys, 29, has been sentenced to two years in federal prison "for inciting, assisting, and conducting a weeks-long campaign of online attacks against FOX40 and The Los Angeles Times."

Key was convicted of multiple charges last October.

“Although this case has drawn attention because of Matthew Keys’ employment in the news media, this was simply a case about a disgruntled employee who used his technical skills to taunt and torment his former employer,” said U.S. Attorney Benjamin B. Wagner. “Although he did no lasting damage, Keys did interfere with the business of news organizations, and caused the Tribune Company to spend thousands of dollars protecting its servers. Those who use the Internet to carry out personal vendettas against former employers should know that there are consequences for such conduct.”

“Matthew Keys will spend the next two years in prison,” said Assistant Special Agent in Charge Tom F. Osborne. “This sentence serves as a warning that those who engage in this type of behavior face harsh penalties.”

According to evidence produced at trial, Keys had an argument with his supervisor on October 28, 2010, after which time FOX40 terminated Keys’ Content Management System user account, and Keys never returned to work. However, he had secretly maintained an unauthorized access point through a set of unauthorized “super user” credentials.

Keys download the email list of FOX40 viewers who had given the station their personal information as part of a rewards programn, and then sent anonymous emails denigrating the station and implying that viewer information was not secure. He also sent anonymous emails to his former supervisor stating that corporate information security cannot defend against an insider who decides to “go rogue.” Keys also used his unauthorized network access to repeatedly deactivate the credentials of the person who took over his duties at FOX40.

He ramped up his vendetta on December 8, 2010, when Keys went into chatrooms used by Anonymous. He posted super user credentials to the Tribune Company CMS and told those present to “go f--- s--- up.” He also pointed hackers to the media organizations that should be targeted for the “largest impact.”

Keys’ actions required the Tribune Company to conduct a damage assessment that lasted to late January or early February of 2011 that involved “literally hundreds of servers with thousands of pages and archives and things of that nature,” according to trial testimony.

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