February 15, 2010
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News: Iceman Gets the Ice for 13 Years
United States law officials succeeded in putting one more computer hacker and credit card thief away for a while to hopefully think about how to change his ways. A Federal judge in the U.S. District Court in Pittsburgh found Max Ray Butler guilty of hacking into financial institutions and stealing their customers' debit and credit card numbers. Butler who goes by the name "Iceman" was at one time a security consultant who did volunteer work for the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). However, greed got the best of him when he hacked into a carder forum web site where stolen credit card numbers are bought and sold. Once inside, he coerced members to do business on his own site, CardersMarket.com.
Butler also installed his malicious software on several computers that he had hacked into including a number of federal government networks. The software installed a back door program on the computers that captured sensitive personal and credit card. He would then sell the stolen credit card information on his website to criminals who would use them to produce counterfeit cards. The counterfeiters would sometimes use the cards themselves to purchase goods or take cash advances. Other times, the thieves would sell the fake cards to other individuals who use them to make fraudulent transactions.
Butler was sentenced to 13 years in prison and five years supervision after his release for charges related to wire fraud, identity theft, and credit card theft. He was also ordered to pay $27.5 million in restitution to his victims. According the prosecutor, U.S. Attorney Luke Dembosky, Butler's sentence is the longest term ever to be handed out for computer hacking charges. Butler had a previous record for computer hacking. In 2000, he served 18 months in prison for a previous conviction. He claims after his release, he found it difficult to secure employment due to his prison record.