(WEB HOST INDUSTRY REVIEW) — According to a report posted to the Register on Wednesday, the hacker responsible for the notorious TJX hacks of several years ago pleaded guilty to other attacks this week, and faces a minimum sentence of 17 years.
Albert Gonzalez reportedly admitted this week to hacking into the credit card processing systems of Heartland Payment Systems, 7-Eleven and the Hannaford Brothers supermarket, while operating as part of a criminal organization that stole millions of credit and debit card records.
A statement from the Department of Justice says that Gonzalez admitted, as part of a plea bargain agreement, that he maintained a cloud-based hacking platform that was used by other hackers in conducting credit card fraud.
He reportedly leased servers that were used as hacking platforms, giving other hackers access to these servers so they might store malware, or launch attacks.
Gonzalez admitted two counts of conspiracy to gain unauthorized access to the payment card networks of the companies, after pleading guilty earlier in the TJX hacking case.
According to the Register, the case is considered by prosecutors to be the biggest ID theft crimes ever prosecuted, and one of the largest data breaches ever investigated in the US.
Sentencing is scheduled for March 18 and 19. The deal between prosecution and defense has prosecutors asking for a sentence of no more than 25 years, and defense asking for no less than 17 for Gonzalez.
About Liam Eagle
Liam Eagle has worked as a contributor to the Web Host Industry Review since its inception in 2000, and as editor since 2003. He has been editor of the WHIR's print magazine since its launch. His daily involvement in the gathering and reporting of Web hosting news and his regular interaction with Web hosting leaders gives him an uncommonly broad appreciation of the issues and tends facing the business. Through his WHIR blog, Liam spots Web hosting trends and offers opinions on the industry-wide impacts of major developments and the motivation behind big announcements. Follow him on Twitter @liameagle
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