Cali Journalist Busted for Hacking Media Outlet

Matthew Keys

Sacramento journalist Matthew Keys first came to notoriety because of his mastery of computers, according to sacbee.com.

The former KTXL Fox40 producer and deputy social media editor for Reuters was indicted by a federal grand jury in Sacramento in 2013, charged with using his skills in a conspiracy to steal hundreds of Fox40 viewers’ email addresses after the Sacramento television station fired him.

He also was accused of providing log-in credentials to allow a break-in of the Los Angeles Times website for a hacker to alter a story on the site.

Keys, now 33, denied the charges and went to trial, with his attorney saying the real culprit was a member of the Anonymous hacking group known as “sharpie,” who was never charged. Keys was convicted by a jury and sentenced to two years in federal prison.

“He’s not a journalist, he’s a terrorist,” Keys’ former news director Brandon Mercer wrote in a letter read in court during his sentencing.

Now, federal officials say, Keys has done it again.

In a petition filed in federal court late Monday, probation officials say Keys violated the conditions of his supervised release from prison by hacking into Comstock’s magazine web accounts and deleting the Sacramento magazine’s YouTube videos and account.

Keys, whose supervised release by probation was to expire April 29, worked at the business magazine as its digital editor from May 2019 until he quit last January in a dispute with management.

Following a Feb. 24 complaint filed with the U.S. Attorney’s office by Comstock’s Executive Editor Tom Couzens, probation officers went to Keys’ home on March 11 and seized 18 devices that were sent to a cybercrime lab for analysis, court papers say.

Court documents say a forensic computer report determined Keys’ iPhone and MacBook Pro were used to enter a Comstock’s YouTube account on Feb. 10 at 2:09:14 a.m.

“The information gathered reflects Mr. Keys accessed Comstock’s Magazine accounts after he departed the company and proceeded to delete the content and YouTube account,” court documents say.