Tech Musing #3 -- Matthew Keys Sentenced to Two Years for Aiding Anonymous

Lam Luu
MIS 441
Tech Musing 3

"Matthew Keys Sentenced to Two Years for Aiding Anonymous"

Source:http://www.wired.com/2016/04/journalist-matthew-keys-sentenced-two-years-aiding-anonymous/

Summary:

Matthew Keys was recently sentenced to two years in prison for providing his username and password to members of Anonymous leading to an attack into the Los Angeles Times, owned by Tribune Company.

Key was convicted last October and faced against a possible maximum sentence of 25 years. However, according to Keys’ attorney, Tor Ekeland, this case should not be considered as a felony. First, Keys did not ask for the hack into Tribune Company.  Second, the harassing emails to Fox-40, which were suspected to be sent by Keys, did not contribute to financial loss under CFAA.  The CFAA requires a minimum of $5,000 in losses to become a felony.  Ekeland said that the prosecutors had overestimated the loss. According to him, the harassing emails should not be considered as impairment to the computer system. Therefore, this is not a damage under CFAA. After rounds of condemnation, the case was finally indicated as a misdemeanor instead of a felony.

Relevance to MIS 441:

This case is a security and privacy issue, which demonstrates the topic we recently discussed in class. The article shows a warning to anyone who may involve in a security fraud. Everyone must be responsible for his/her account in order to avoid the issue with security policy. Even when you do not directly conduct the hacks, you can still convicted with the unauthorized damage to a protected server.

Importance to MIS Students:

As MIS professionals, we need to be aware of the possible involvements with security and privacy issues. MIS professionals must realize the threats and be able to protect ourselves as well as others from committing into frauds and other inappropriate activities.