April 15, 2010
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It's All Over Now; Or Is It Really?, Pt.2
Valuable information brings it to an end.Albert Gonzalez and his ring of thieves conducted what authorities say is the largest security invasion and theft of debit and credit card data in the history of the industry. With the help of several computer genius intruders, Gonzalez and his gang stole over 200 million debit and credit card numbers and that plus more in cash. In an effort to reduce his sentencing, Gonzalez cooperated with the authorities as he led them to over a million dollars in cash which he had buried in the backyard of his parents' home. In 2007, Gonzalez moved away from the lesser money making business to the multi-million dollar caper targeting major retailers and card processing systems with Structured Query Language (SQL) a database program that manages debit and credit card information.
Toey was instrumental in locating and gaining entrance into the debit and credit card databases of vulnerable retailers and card processing companies. The information was transferred over to Gonzalez who breached the systems and compromised the data. Gonzalez had several other accomplices including Christopher Scott who was sentenced to 7 years in prison for his role in breaking into the wireless networks and a yet undetermined amount of restitution; Humza Zaman convicted of laundering money in excess of $600,000 received 46 months in prison and a $75,000 fine; Stephen Watt received two years in Federal prison for stealing debit and credit card data from the TJX database; and Jeremy Jethro received 3 years probation and a $10,000 fine for selling a program that enabled Gonzalez in his trespasses.
It's all over with the sentencing of Toey or at least cardholders' worldwide hope it is. For now, Gonzalez and his five accomplices have been removed from their cyber crime environment without computer access. Gonzalez received over 20 years for his role as the mastermind and ringleader of the world's most extensive debit and credit card theft in history. The Heartland Payment Systems security breach alone compromised over 100 million card numbers which was carried out by two Russians working for Gonzalez. The ring also had accomplices in Latvia and Ukraine. Prosecutors credit Toey for providing valuable information which led to the arrest and conviction of Albert Gonzalez and the end of a notorious cyber crime ring. Or, is it really over?