Infamous Hacker Gives Up Assets, Heads To Prison For Stealing CC Data
Thinking of using those newfound hacking skills to engage in nefarious
behavior? Think again. Albert Gonzalez is a name that'll go down in
hacking history, but it's not for anything positive. After being
charged with stealing some 130 million credit and debit card numbers,
Albert plead guilty to previous data-theft charges in New York and
Massachusetts.
His penalty? Aside from dealing with a stream of media coverage, he'll be forced to cough up $1.65 million in assets. Oh, and then there's a little thing called "jail time." He'll be dealing with 15 to 25 years of that, after Federal prosecutors in Boston charged Gonzalez and others with stealing credit and debit card numbers from companies including TJX Cos., BJ’s Wholesale Club Inc., OfficeMax Inc., Barnes & Noble Inc. and Sports Authority Inc. Needless to say, this guy was no small fry, and he had no qualms about going for broke with his tactics.
The actual story here is pretty wild. Gonzalez was originally working
as an informant for the Secret Service, but then the SS discovered that
it was criminally involved in the
case. A smart hacker, but a not-so-smart individual. He utilizes
malware and so-called "injection string" to attack computers and steal
data on a real-time basis, which made it tougher for officials to
recognize that any hacking was taking place. They also programmed
malware to
evade detection by anti-virus software and erase files that
might detect its presence, proving even further that the plan was well
thought-out.
Still, this whole case is just downright scary for an outsider. We trust these very companies to keep our data safe, and a handful of hackers have shown that anything is possible with the right coding and a little bit of time. Here's hoping this serves as a wake-up call for the industry/security firms.
His penalty? Aside from dealing with a stream of media coverage, he'll be forced to cough up $1.65 million in assets. Oh, and then there's a little thing called "jail time." He'll be dealing with 15 to 25 years of that, after Federal prosecutors in Boston charged Gonzalez and others with stealing credit and debit card numbers from companies including TJX Cos., BJ’s Wholesale Club Inc., OfficeMax Inc., Barnes & Noble Inc. and Sports Authority Inc. Needless to say, this guy was no small fry, and he had no qualms about going for broke with his tactics.
The actual story here is pretty wild. Gonzalez was originally working
as an informant for the Secret Service, but then the SS discovered that
it was criminally involved in the
case. A smart hacker, but a not-so-smart individual. He utilizes
malware and so-called "injection string" to attack computers and steal
data on a real-time basis, which made it tougher for officials to
recognize that any hacking was taking place. They also programmed
malware to
evade detection by anti-virus software and erase files that
might detect its presence, proving even further that the plan was well
thought-out.Still, this whole case is just downright scary for an outsider. We trust these very companies to keep our data safe, and a handful of hackers have shown that anything is possible with the right coding and a little bit of time. Here's hoping this serves as a wake-up call for the industry/security firms.
