March 26, 2010
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News: Hacker Gets 20 Plus 20
Nearly every credit card customer has heard of the infamous hacker who stole over 130 million cardholders' account information. Albert Gonzalez has been sentenced to two separate terms of twenty years totaling forty years in prison for his role in the Heartland Payment Systems, Inc. debit and credit card compromise. Gonzalez was also facing prison terms for several other incidents which the judge decided to give him a break on. Gonzales didn't end with the Heartland incident; he went on to hack into the debit and credit card systems of some major retail chains including 7-Eleven and the Hannaford Brothers Grocery Store chains. He used the money he stole to fund an extravagant lifestyle including a $75,000 birthday party for himself, a $118,000 condo in Miami, a high priced automobile, and Rolex watches.
Federal Court Judge Douglas Woodcock made it known that he aimed to make the young 28 year old Gonzalez an example for other young people who think they can get away with debit and credit card theft. He told Gonzalez that he hoped the jail time would "deliver deterrence to others." Considering that Gonzalez was facing up to 25 years in prison for his role in the debit and credit card theft, the judge was somewhat lenient. He explained his reasoning in that although Gonzalez profited a great deal off several criminal ventures, he did not profit from the 7-Eleven and Hannaford breach.
Those who disagreed with the judge felt that despite Gonzalez's ability to profit from the breach, he was responsible for opening up the door for other thieves. In doing so, he helped to compromise debit and credit card customers to a monumental size. In addition to the losses incurred by cardholders, the breach cost the financial industry millions to cover losses resulting from illegal transactions and the re-issuance of new cards to all account holders involved.