Category: Technology Author : AHN Posted: September 14, 2009
Tags : albert gonzalez, credit cards, hackers, hacking, hacking credit cards
International Computer Hacker Pleads Guilty For Attacks On U.S. Retailers
An international computer hacker pleaded guilty on Friday in a Boston courtroom to multiple charges relating to hacking activity and credit card fraud. More than 40 million credit and debit card numbers were stolen from major U.S. retailers as a result of the hacking activity.
Albert Gonzalez, 28, of Miami, pleaded guilty to 19 counts of conspiracy, computer fraud, wire fraud, access device fraud and aggravated identity theft relating to hacks into numerous major U.S. retailers including TJX Companies, BJ’s Wholesale Club, OfficeMax, Boston Market, Barnes & Noble and Sports Authority. Gonzalez was indicted in August 2008 in the District of Massachusetts on charges related to these hacks.
Gonzalez also pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud relating to hacks into the Dave & Buster’s restaurant chain.
Some of the luxuries Gonzalez accumulated during his tenure as a criminal that he now has to forfeit include $2.7 million dollars, multiple items of real estate and personal property, including a condo in Miami, a 2006 BMW 330i, a Tiffany diamond ring and Rolex watches. Included in the forfeited currency is more than $1 million in cash, which Gonzalez had buried in a container in his backyard.
“Consumers must be able to trust that the credit and debit cards they use everyday in thousands of stores around the world are safe from unlawful access,” says, Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer of the Criminal Division.
Computer hacking and identity theft pose serious risks to our commercial, personal and financial security. Technology and the global world we live in has forever changed the way we do business, virtually erasing geographic boundaries.
U.S. Secret Service Director Mark Sullivan says, “However, this case demonstrates that even in the cyber world, there is no such thing as anonymity.”
According to the court documents Gonzalez and his co-conspirators broke into retail credit card payment systems through a series of sophisticated techniques, including “wardriving” and installation of sniffer programs to capture credit and debit card numbers used at these retail stores.
Wardriving involves driving around in a car with a laptop computer looking for accessible wireless computer networks of retailers. Using these techniques, Gonzalez and his co-conspirators were able to steal more than 40 million credit and debit card numbers from retailers. Also according to the indictments, Gonzalez and his co-conspirators sold the numbers to others for their fraudulent use and engaged in ATM fraud by encoding the data on the magnetic stripes of blank cards and withdrawing tens of thousands of dollars at a time from ATMs.
Based on the terms of the Boston plea agreement, Gonzalez faces a minimum of 15 years and a maximum of 25 years in prison. Based on a New York plea agreement for crimes there, Gonzalez faces up to 20 years in prison, which the parties have agreed should run concurrently. He also faces numerous fines.
An international computer hacker pleaded guilty on Friday in a Boston courtroom to multiple charges relating to hacking activity and credit card fraud. More than 40 million credit and debit card numbers were stolen from major U.S. retailers as a result of the hacking activity.
Albert Gonzalez, 28, of Miami, pleaded guilty to 19 counts of conspiracy, computer fraud, wire fraud, access device fraud and aggravated identity theft relating to hacks into numerous major U.S. retailers including TJX Companies, BJ’s Wholesale Club, OfficeMax, Boston Market, Barnes & Noble and Sports Authority. Gonzalez was indicted in August 2008 in the District of Massachusetts on charges related to these hacks.
Gonzalez also pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud relating to hacks into the Dave & Buster’s restaurant chain.
Some of the luxuries Gonzalez accumulated during his tenure as a criminal that he now has to forfeit include $2.7 million dollars, multiple items of real estate and personal property, including a condo in Miami, a 2006 BMW 330i, a Tiffany diamond ring and Rolex watches. Included in the forfeited currency is more than $1 million in cash, which Gonzalez had buried in a container in his backyard.
“Consumers must be able to trust that the credit and debit cards they use everyday in thousands of stores around the world are safe from unlawful access,” says, Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer of the Criminal Division.
Computer hacking and identity theft pose serious risks to our commercial, personal and financial security. Technology and the global world we live in has forever changed the way we do business, virtually erasing geographic boundaries.
U.S. Secret Service Director Mark Sullivan says, “However, this case demonstrates that even in the cyber world, there is no such thing as anonymity.”
According to the court documents Gonzalez and his co-conspirators broke into retail credit card payment systems through a series of sophisticated techniques, including “wardriving” and installation of sniffer programs to capture credit and debit card numbers used at these retail stores.
Wardriving involves driving around in a car with a laptop computer looking for accessible wireless computer networks of retailers. Using these techniques, Gonzalez and his co-conspirators were able to steal more than 40 million credit and debit card numbers from retailers. Also according to the indictments, Gonzalez and his co-conspirators sold the numbers to others for their fraudulent use and engaged in ATM fraud by encoding the data on the magnetic stripes of blank cards and withdrawing tens of thousands of dollars at a time from ATMs.
Based on the terms of the Boston plea agreement, Gonzalez faces a minimum of 15 years and a maximum of 25 years in prison. Based on a New York plea agreement for crimes there, Gonzalez faces up to 20 years in prison, which the parties have agreed should run concurrently. He also faces numerous fines.
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