Journo who went to prison for 2 years for breaking US cyber-security law is jailed again

Former journalist Matthew Keys, who served two years in prison for posting his Tribune Company content management system credentials online a decade ago in violation of America's Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, has been ordered back to prison for violating the terms of his supervised release. On Monday, Keys, 34, a resident of …

[David 132]

What an idiot, if true.

What makes me cross about this - subject to his appeal, etc etc - is that Comstock were apparently generous enough to give him a pretty good, white-collar job, giving him a second chance even though they must have known his criminal record. And now by his reported actions, he's betrayed the trust they put in him, and poisoned the well of goodwill - making it that much more difficult for any other ex-cons seeking to go straight and rejoin society.

Way to go, dipshit.

[W.S.Gosset]

Re: What an idiot, if true.

BuT hE's StIcKiNg It To ThE mAn!

[Potemkine!]

Re: What an idiot, if true.

He's an idiot mostly because of that part:

"And the next night, the browsing history on Keys’s iPhone shows it was used to search for 'how to delete youtube account,' that it navigated through the YouTube options necessary to delete an account, and that it landed on a YouTube address containing the text string 'deletesuccess.'"

Having an iPhone, that's the proof!

[Richard Jones 1]

Re: What an idiot, if true.

While I am no fanboy of apple products, or any other devices, it is not possession that matters, it is how you use the device. Keeping a blood stained hammer is not smart if there is a chance you could be in the frame for a murder. So it is with devices, leave a lovely audit trail on the shiny or matt device you appear to be stupid. In this case, he appears to have a history of poorly thought out and hard to justify actions. Biting someone who gives you a second chance, that is stupid. Keep him away from all areas of other people's lives.

[Potemkine!]

Re: What an idiot, if true.

DNFTT!

[yetanotheraoc]

Re: What an idiot, if true.

However did you get downvoted for referring to yourself as a troll? Somebody needs to lighten up.

[jmch]

Re: What an idiot, if true.

"...even though they must have known his criminal record"

To be fair, I struggle to understand why publishng his user/password should have landed him a criminal record and time in prison rather than a civil lawsuit and fine / compensation to be paid.

CFAA is effed up

[Dave314159ggggdffsdds]

Re: What an idiot, if true.

It's a deliberate attempt to damage the organisation in question. Seems like the kind of thing that ought to be a crime. I have never read CFAA, so I have no opinion on whether they're written a good law to make it a crime, or cocked it up.

[stiine]

Re: What an idiot, if true.

FYI, 'they' didn't write a good law.

[Trigun]

Re: What an idiot, if true.

Couldn't have said it better myself. -

[Lil Endian]

From Vacaville to Vacay Pen

...posted user/pass

...deleted vids

...changed password

...non-obfuscated web searches

What a silly boy narcissistic moron.

I'd rarely say this, but keep this waster away from all ICT, personal as well as professional.

[bluesxman]

Monitoring software?

Seems like they didn’t entirely trust him if his computer had monitoring software taking screenshots. IANAL but I’d have thought they’d have to inform him of such surveillance?

Unless the software was not targeted at him and was in fact a standard deployment at the magazine, which seems like it could have all kinds of privacy issues attached, if it’s actively taking screenshots of journalists at work

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[Ochib]

Re: Monitoring software?

According to the indictment, they (the US Government) sort 3 year of supervised release. The monitoring software was properly put there by the Government

[bluesxman]

Re: Monitoring software?

Fair enough. Then I have to concur with the sentiment that he’s an idiot. Another much less likely explanation is that he is subject to some sort of bizarre conspiracy. Don’t fancy his chances of arguing that case given his past form.

[Version 1.0]

Re: Monitoring software?

It certainly sounds like he was working in a dumb environment run by people playing with the idea of corporate security. Nothing that happened is very surprising.

[Pascal Monett]

Some people never learn

How stupid do you have to be to be on probation and redo the same stupid stuff that landed you in jail the first time ?

Back to the clink with you, moron, and good luck on ever finding anyone that will once again trust you with a keyboard.

[Anonymous Coward]

Whilst there are bad people, and stupid people, I genuinely don't think he's either. Look at the jobs he held, he wasn't exactly a shoe shine boy. And if he was really bad he could have done far worse.

I suspect he is in need of some mental health input, rather than more time in the big house

[ICL1900-G3]

Exactly. All prison will do is cost money and make him unemployable. But Society, driven by the tabloids, does want its revenge.

[Robert Moore]

I would say, in this case, he has made himself unemployable.

Also he is clearly an idiot.

I have frequently said, "Stupid should hurt." looks like this time it will.

[Stork]

There are plenty of prisoners with mental health problems

As a British prison governor said, 80% of his clients should never have been there and the rest never let out

[Eclectic Man]

Grievances

He claims that he was treated badly by his employer, but frankly there are other ways to raise concerns than deleting YouTube accounts.

Also, and here I may be being a bit nerdy, why on Earth were his personal credentials the only ones usable to get access to the accounts after he left? A company account should be accessible by the authorised company employees, and the back-up e-mail address and telephone number should be company, not personal ones. And they should be recorded and checked regularly.

OK, ISO27001 rant over.

[Robert Carnegie]

Re: Grievances

It seems, if I read this right and if it's accurate, that he somehow managed to hack the company's Youtube account and change the credentials to his - specifically to his e-mail account at the company. There might be social engineering by him in this, or giving him admin access to e-mail.

[Trigun]

Assuming he is guilty:

This guy sounds like a narcisistic tool.

He had a couple of options:

1) Give them the credentials and walk away (usually the best (adult) option)

2) Not give them the credentials and walk away (less adult, but *sometimes* understandable, no perma damage, but causes inconvenience to the ex-employer)

But no, he acted little a child and deleted the channel - and so will now pay for it. Zero sympathy unless it's revealed that his ex-employer did something heinous to him (unlikely).