Matthew Keys, the deputy social media editor at Reuters, was federally indicted today for allegedly conspiring with Anonymous to deface various news sites run by the Tribune Company, one of Keys's former employers. If convicted, Keys faces up to 25 years in prison and a maximum fine of $250,000.

A group of apparently Russian hackers, working on the website "exposed.su," claims to have published the private personal information of—or "doxxed"—17 politicians and celebrities. Victims include Michelle Obama, Jay-Z, Beyoncé, Attorney General Eric Holder, FBI Director Robert Mueller, all of whom had credit reports posted to the website, as well as Hillary Clinton, and Joe Biden, whose social security numbers were published.

The New York Times is reporting that members of China's most advanced hacking group have been traced to the same small neighborhood as a Chinese Army base, a revelation that all but confirms that the Chinese military is behind the attacks. The hackers, known as the "Comment Crew," have targeted various parts of the U.S. government as well as major corporations like Coca-Cola and, more troubling, a company that has remote access to more than 60 percent of the oil and gas pipelines in North America. Mandiant, the same American computer security company the Times used to rid its networks of hackers last year, traced hundreds of attacks — 90% of the ones they examined — to the Shanghai neighborhood that houses the base, called P.L.A. Unit 61398.

After gaining access to the personal email accounts of Dorothy Bush, George W. Bush's sister, and several friends close to the Bush family, a hacker apparently obtained Bush family photos, cell phone numbers, security codes, information about George H.W. Bush's health, a post-election email from Fox New's Brit Hume, and, most amazingly, pictures of George W. Bush's in-progress paintings, which are just as awkward and simple as you'd hope. All told, six accounts were hacked, including emails for Barbara Bush's brother, family friend Willard Hemingway, and CBS sportscaster Jim Nantz, another friend of the family.

The New York Times was the victim of an elaborate hacking attack from China, according to a report in Wednesday's Times. The attacks, which have been on-going for the past four months, were apparently in retaliation for an article the Times published about the vast wealth accumulated by Chinese Prime Minster Wen Jiabao's family.

An anonymous group of hackers — not to be confused with the hacking group Anonymous — claims it's sitting on a treasure trove of Mitt Romney's unreleased tax returns freshly lifted from the PricewaterhouseCoopers offices in Franklin, Tennessee, and say they will make them available to the public at the end of this month unless they receive a million dollars in unmarked Bitcoins.

Remember the protest over the anti-piracy bill SOPA, which left Wikipedia black for a day and depressed the GPA of a large portion of the world's high school students? This week brings another internet freakout over a similarly geeky bill: The Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act (CISPA). Non-geeks, here is what you need to know.

Poor Rebekah Brooks! The disgraced former News of the World editor and News International executive, who oversaw the paper and its parent company while it hacked into the phones of murder victims, resigned in July and was arrested a few days later. She must be destitute! Except for the $2.7 million, chauffeured limousine, and office that her boss Rupert Murdoch gave her.

Anarcho-Doritologist hacker collective has declared war on the New York Stock Exchange and will launch a "raid" on the company's website on Monday, October 10! Or is "Operation Invade Wall Street" a "fake planted operation"? Or maybe it doesn't really matter either way.

Bank of America's web site has been intermittently down today, which happens to be one day after the company announced a new policy of charging customers for the right to access the money that they gave to Bank of America (think of it as a negative interest rate).

Hackers launched a denial of service (DDOS) attack on TPM on Friday, knocking the site off-line. TPM had posted mugshots of 14 individuals the FBI said are connected to the 'hactivist' group Anonymous earlier in the day.

Piers Morgan has repeatedly claimed—falsely!—that he never countenanced or encountered voicemail hacking during his tenure as editor of the Daily Mirror. Now Heather Mills has come forward to claim that a reporter for the Mirror's parent company confessed to her in 2001 that the paper had surreptitiously gained access to a voicemail message Paul McCartney left for her after the couple had a fight. The trouble for Morgan is that he openly admitted to having listened to that very voicemail message—recounting it in detail—in 2007. Whoops.

News of the World, the Rupert Murdoch-owned tabloid shut down last month over allegations of extensive illegal story-gathering practices, is now accused of hacking the voicemail of the mother of a murdered eight-year-old—on a phone that the paper's editor Rebekah Brooks gave her as a gift.

German lingerie company Blush has mocked up a series of ads inspired by the News of the World hacking scandal. In them, the King, Queen and Jack of this particular house of cards — CEO Rupert Murdoch, his slippery heir James Murdoch, and henchwoman/editrix Rebekah Brooks — are called out by name in a series of tabloid-inspired headlines. This is about as sexy as the News Corp. scandal is going to get, so enjoy it. (Click image to expand.) [AdWeek]

The U.S. Justice Department is preparing to hand out its first subpoenas in connection with their investigation into News Corp.'s alleged hacking of 9-11 victims. In their report, the Wall Street Journal quotes an anonymous "person close to News Corp." who dismisses the subpoenas as being "a fishing expedition with no evidence to support it." (Gee, I wonder how they managed to track down that Deep Throat? "Hey Bob, I'm going for a Starbucks run. Want anything? Oh, and could you give me a damage-control quote for this thing I'm writing? Sweet.") The subpoenas, which would give federal investigators broad access to News Corp. records and information, need approval by a senior Justice Department official before they can be issued. Shouldn't be long now. [Photo: AP]

Former News of the World editor Colin Myler and former News International legal manager Tom Crone have issued a terse joint statement saying James Murdoch was "mistaken" when he told a parliamentary inquiry on Tuesday that he didn't know about an email that directly implicated News of the World reporter Neville Thurlbeck in phone hacking. It's likely he will be called back to clarify the issue.

Blotchy Gong Show revivalist and CNN host Piers Morgan came off looking good in his confrontation with a British MP who accused him—falsely, as it turns out—on Tuesday of having confessed in his memoir to phone hacking while he was editor of the Daily Mirror. So we decided to catalog all the other—far more credible—indications that hacking went on under his nose during his tabloid days and...not so good! Let's have a look.

Puffy British game-show presenter Piers Morgan, who also hosts a show on CNN about Twitter, is in the spotlight these days because he formerly edited Rupert Murdoch's News of the World and a competitor called the Daily Mirror, and as such is prima facie guilty of hacking into everyone's voicemails all the time.

No one is safe from phone hacking these days, not even the mouthpiece of one-eyed, bearded bogeyman Mullah Omar. The following message was sent out early today from the phone of a Taliban spokesman, Zabihullah Mujahid:

Fox News's stunningly even-handed coverage of Rupert Murdoch's Barbasol-smeared troubles continues with The O'Reilly Factor. Host Bill O'Reilly prodded Tuesday night's yespert — that would be Nile Gardiner, Ph.D. — to back up his assertion that the widespread attention the case is receiving in the U.S. is fueled by the media's radical left agenda: