Reuters Journalist Matthew Keys Accused of Hacking

Reuters journalist Matthew Keys, who is an active and frequent Twitter user was accused of helping hackers hack into the Los Angeles Times website.

Keys has been accused and charged with helping hackers hack into The Los Angeles Times website. The 26-year-old journalist is a former employee of the Tribune Company. Allegedly, he was fired from a California television station but retained some access codes to the Tribune Company's network. He passed on this information to the hacking group Anonymous. In December, 2010 the group hacked into the Los Angeles Times website and caused minor chaos, changing words in a news report about the U.S. congress.

However, if Keys is convicted of the crime, he could face up to 25 years of imprisonment. News of the accusation and charge sent shockwaves through American journalism's Twitter community where Keys is regularly posts. He's currently the deputy social media editor for Reuters.

Reuters said they were aware of the charges of the incident that took place a year before Keys joined the company. Previous Keys was fired from Fox 40, a California TV station owned by the Tribune Company which also owns a few newspapers including The Times.

According to the DOJ, Keys gave the hacking group log-in credentials for a computer server belonging to Tribune, and encouraged them to disrupt the website. Using these log-in credentials, the hackers altered the headline in the story to read, "Pressure builds in House to elect CHIPPY 1337," according to the indictment.

"It was part of the conspiracy to log in without authorization to Tribune Company's content management system for the purpose of learning how to alter and damage it," the indictment states.