SAN JOSE — A 35-year-old Richmond man has been convicted of hacking into a Palo Alto-based online newspaper’s website and disrupting its operations more than two years ago.
On Wednesday, a jury found Ross Colby guilty of one felony count of attempting to damage a protected computer, one felony count of intentionally damaging a protected computer and three misdemeanor counts of computer intrusion, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Colby now faces up to 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine for each of the felony counts and up to one year in prison and a $100,000 fine for each of the misdemeanor counts.
According to federal prosecutors, Colby in 2015 illegally accessed the web accounts of Embarcadero Media and replaced its various news websites with a picture of Guy Fawkes, an image that is often associated with the hacking collective known as Anonymous.
Embarcadero Media is the parent company of the Palo Alto Weekly, Mountain View Voice, Pleasanton Weekly and The Almanac in Menlo Park.
Colby also canceled the company’s domain names and changed its mail exchange records to redirect its corporate email, according to prosecutors. Altogether, the hack caused an estimated $32,000 in damages and remediation costs to Embarcadero Media.
Bill Johnson, the chief executive officer of Embarcadero Media and the publisher of the Palo Alto Weekly, said the company was pleased to see the case finally come to a close.
“This has been a long ordeal for us, because not only did recovering from this hack take a lot of time and energy, but we’ve been assisting the FBI with the investigation now for over two years. It’s nice that they have successfully brought this case against this guy,” Johnson said.
“That said, it’s all kind of a tragedy all the way around,” he added. “But we’re glad to be done with it.”
Colby did not take the stand during the nearly week-long trial, and as a result, prosecutors could not present any evidence about what motivated the hack, Johnson said.
“It was a very targeted attack against our website,” Johnson said. “It wasn’t a random act. And we are hoping to be able to work with the U.S. Attorney to release some information.”
The image of Guy Fawkes was accompanied by a message claiming that Embarcadero Media had “failed to remove content that has been harmful to the wellbeing and safety of others.” It took the company about 19 hours to restore its websites.
Vicki Young, Colby’s attorney, could not be immediately reached for comment, but Johnson said Colby’s defense largely centered on challenging the credibility of the prosecution’s evidence.
Colby is free on bail, pending sentencing. U.S. District Court Judge Lucy Koh set his sentencing for Sept. 19.