11 people accused of cyber fraud - Biggest identity theft, hacking ever prosecuted
2008-08-06 15:33:43 (GMT) (Caymanmama.com - News)Boston, Massachusetts (CaymanMama.com) — It has been announced by the Justice Department that eleven people have charged with hacking 9 major retailers and stealing and selling over 41 million debit and credit card numbers. These people include an informant from the U.S. Secret Service. This breach of data is considered to be the biggest identity theft and hacking ever prosecuted.
The Department of Justice says that the suspects have been charged with computer intrusion, conspiracy, identity theft and fraud. Three of the eleven people are citizens of the U.S. while others belong to Estonia, Belarus, China and Ukraine. The indictment states that they hacked into the retailer’s wireless networks including BJ’s Wholesale Club, TJX Cos., Boston Market, Forever 21, DSW and Sports Authority and built programs to capture card numbers, account information and passwords.
Michael J. Sullivan, a U.S. Attorney, said that they are not computer geniuses but are just opportunists and with the help of a technique known as ‘wardriving’ which looks for obtainable wireless signals on the Internet. The two servers at Latvia and Ukraine stored the information with over 25 million debit and credit card numbers on one and 16 million on the other.
The ring mainly operated in Eastern Europe, China, Thailand and Philippines and alleged conspirators stayed outside the U.S. The thefts are considered to be criminal actions done for personal profits and are not considered as a national threat in any way. This demonstrates the cyber-security weaknesses of the U.S.
In the indictment, the leader of the ring, Albert ‘Segvec’ Gonzalez from Miami has been charged with wire fraud, computer fraud, access device fraud, conspiracy and aggravated identity theft. If he is proven with all these charges, he will face lifetime imprisonment. He is currently in custody in New York but his date of arraignment has not yet been declared.
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