20 Years For Gonzalez In TJX Hacker Case 94
alphadogg writes "Hacker mastermind Albert Gonzalez was sentenced Thursday in US District Court to two concurrent 20-year stints in prison for his role in what prosecutors called the 'unparalleled' theft of millions of credit card numbers from major US retailers. US District Court Judge Patti B. Saris announced the concurrent sentences in two 2008 cases against Gonzalez, 28, a Cuban-American who was born in Miami, where he lived when the crimes were committed. Gonzalez and co-conspirators hacked into computer systems and stole credit card information from TJX, Office Max, DSW and Dave and Buster's, among other online retail outlets, in one of the largest — if not the largest — cybercrime operations targeting that sort of data thus far. They then sold the numbers to other criminals. Gonzalez pleaded guilty to conspiracy charges in two cases related to those thefts last December and the following day entered a guilty plea in a third case involving hacking into computer networks of Heartland Payment Systems and the Hannaford Supermarkets and 7-Eleven chains."
In most countries..... (Score:2, Insightful)
You'll get less for murder.
TJX Case (Score:5, Insightful)
What's missing here is the fact that TJX didn't take reasonable precautions to protect the data.
They already coughed up $41m to Visa and the FTC received a chunk of change from them as well.
The only way these kinds of thefts will be stopped is if these companies get serious about protecting Credit Card and Personal information. While PCI goes a long way in trying to address the Credit Card side of things, the Personal Information problem is still looming. We need tougher laws that make companies who gather sensitive information, SSNs etc. fully accountable when theft of the data in their possession occurs.
All in all, I still bet this guy has about $10m buried someplace but still 20 years of your life is a very stiff sentence considering a plea bargain as well.
what the hell? (Score:2, Insightful)
"a Cuban-American who was born in Miami"
meaning: he's an american. he's born here, right?
so what's the fucking point of saying he's CUBAN-american? cuban-americans are more prone to cybercrime? what the hell is the significance of saying he's CUBAN-american. oh, a "real" american would never engage in cybercrime? what's that? an irish-american? an italian-american? when an irish-american robs a bank, do we say describe the crime, the sentencing and the criminal as "An Irish-American who was born in Philadelphia". why is that significant information? it's not, it's a racist smear
oh, it all makes sense now- he's a CUBAN-american: this is important information to relay in the story summary when describing the criminal and the crime
racist fucking bullshit
Re:what the hell? (Score:3, Insightful)
so what's the fucking point of saying he's CUBAN-american?
Maybe the author didn't want you to think that Gonzalez is a MEXICAN-american...
Re:In most countries..... (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:TJX Case (Score:3, Insightful)
I second this! TJX used default passwords and several other bad practices and kept on once they knew they had a problem. Had they taken the public's data security seriously, this guy would likely never had been able to do what he did here.
When you can sit outside and type Username: (Name of manager inside) and Password: admin, wirelessly and then get credit card data from the registers which is not supposed to be stored, then yes it is YOUR fault that this happened as well. Especially when those same registers are linked directly to the main servers with surprise, default passwords!
If I open the door and tell everyone come get this other persons shit, then I am liable as well. It is sad that TJX isn't in this case. I have even heard of someone in my area who were able to trace their trouble to TJX, as they rarely used the card. I asked if they shopped there and yup, that was the only place they had used the card in since the beginning of the year before that.
Re:what the hell? (Score:3, Insightful)
Nah, its politically correct bullshit. The media has been bitten too often by failing to mention the $NONAMERICAN identifier that many American's think of themselves as, that they now do it reflexively.
In the local paper's websites comment section - I've seen the $NONAMERICAN's bitch and moan and try to have it both ways. If the paper mentions a $NONAMERICAN was drunk and caused an accident, they bitch (as you do) that the paper is racist for implying $NONAMERICAN's are drunks. But let a $NONAMERICAN be positively mentioned (Say, winning a local business award) and they bitch about the paper being racist if they fail to mention the subject is a $NONAMERICAN.
Re:what the hell? (Score:3, Insightful)
It's racist only if you say African-American or Jewish.
Re:In most countries..... (Score:3, Insightful)
Right, because the rest of the world isn't structuring their financial environment just like the US. No other country uses credit and credit ratings, computerized history files, complex financial vehicles like CDOs, etc. Iceland, Greece, Portugal and others aren't in a world of hurt right now because of the very same get rich schemes the bankers in the US perpetrated.
But hey, if wearing anti-US filters on your eyes makes you feel superior about the country you live in, then I say live and let live.
Re:In most countries..... (Score:5, Insightful)
You'll get less for murder.
Most murders are committed in the heat of passion by mentally unbalanced people. This guy rationally and knowingly RUINED many people's lives. He can rot in prison for all I care.