Views Display for a query that doesn't display view content to user
Alright. So here's what I did. I installed Views Access Callback, then created a callback function that checks for the cron key.

The funny thing is, this disables the page URL access for me as user #1, even though I have "access all views" permission, and "Disable SQL rewriting" under Advanced -> Query Settings is turned on, which I would think bypassess access checks, but views_get_view_result() is getting results from the view even when my access function returns false. That's acceptable for me. I need to disable access via a URL.

Here's my implementation

/**
 * Implements hook_views_access_callbacks()
 */
function mycustommodule_rules_views_access_callbacks() {
  $callbacks['mycustommodule_rules_is_cron_view_access'] = t('Is function run from cron');
  return $callbacks;
}

function mycustommodule_rules_is_cron_view_access() {
  if (isset($_GET['cron_key']) &amp;&amp; variable_get('cron_key', 'drupal') == $_GET['cron_key']) {
    return TRUE;
  }
  else {
    return FALSE;
  }
}