TJX Hacker Gonzalez Gets 20 Years For Crime

Defendant Still to be Sentenced for Heartland Breach
TJX Hacker Gonzalez Gets 20 Years For Crime
A federal judge Thursday sentenced Albert Gonzalez to 20 years in prison for leading a group of cybercriminals who hacked into the IT systems of TJX and other retailers. Gonzalez, who received his sentence for the TJX, Office Max, DSW and Dave & Busters breaches in front of a judge in the District Court of Massachusetts in Boston, will face another sentencing on Friday in the Heartland Payment Systems breach.

His sentence of 20 years in the TJX breach, where more than 90 million credit and debit cards were taken, brings to a close the most expensive and biggest prosecution of computer crime undertaken by law enforcement. The 20-year sentence is also one of the toughest imposed for a financial crime of this type. Second to his sentence is the 13-year-long sentence handed down to hacker Max Vision in February for stealing 2 million credit cards from banks, businesses and other criminals.

The notorious hacker Gonzalez, also known as "segvec," "soupnazi" and "j4guar17," pled guilty late last year. His attorney had argued in presentencing hearings that Gonzalez should be given only 15 years because of his cooperation with law enforcement and stated that the defendant suffered from Asperger syndrome, a form of autism.

In the Heartland incident and two other cases involving Hannaford and 7-Eleven, Gonzalez could be sentenced up to 25 years.


About the Author

Linda McGlasson

Linda McGlasson

Managing Editor

Linda McGlasson is a seasoned writer and editor with 20 years of experience in writing for corporations, business publications and newspapers. She has worked in the Financial Services industry for more than 12 years. Most recently Linda headed information security awareness and training and the Computer Incident Response Team for Securities Industry Automation Corporation (SIAC), a subsidiary of the NYSE Group (NYX). As part of her role she developed infosec policy, developed new awareness testing and led the company's incident response team. In the last two years she's been involved with the Financial Services Information Sharing Analysis Center (FS-ISAC), editing its quarterly member newsletter and identifying speakers for member meetings.




Around the Network

Our website uses cookies. Cookies enable us to provide the best experience possible and help us understand how visitors use our website. By browsing bankinfosecurity.com, you agree to our use of cookies.