Instigator of TJX hacking sentenced with 20 years imprisonment

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» IT Security NEWS

» 27 March 2010

The instigator for the popular case of TJX hacking, Albert Gonzalez, received two counts of detention in the federal prison for about 20 years. This hacker was determined to have gathered approximately 90 million credit and debit card numbers from TJX and other related dealers.

Longest penalty in the history of cybercrime cases

Studying the history of all computer fraud cases in the United States, Gonzalez’s case probably had the greatest punishment ever recorded. There is a chance that his sentence will be lessened if he presented himself with an excellent conduct while in prison. However, even though he’s still 28 as of the moment, he would still be as old as 40 years old once he is released because he has to serve his two counts of punishment.

Justice equivalent to every felony committed

Aside from the two counts of 20 years of imprisonment, he was also penalized with a fine reaching up to 25, 000 US dollars or 16, 900 Pounds. He must also pay a compensation charge of about 192 million US dollars or 129 million Pounds.

Gonzalez had to pay quite a large amount of money for the criminal act and as of the latest, he was able to surrender the following as compensation: 1.65 million US dollars (1.1 million Pounds), a 2006 model of BMW, gadgets such as laptops and computers, a house located in Miami, Glock 27 model of gun, a Tiffany diamond ring, and three Rolex wristwatches. It was also discovered that he was able to keep 1 million US dollars worth of money at his parent’s backyard before he was taken away by the authorities.

Conflict in personalities was noticeable

Patti Saris, the US district court judge, enlightened the TJX hacker during a court session about a letter from his parents wherein it was stated that he was a man of good standing when he was younger. But with his present actions, it appeared that he had a different personality compared to what he portrayed when he committed such a despicable action.

It was discovered that Gonzalez was able to carry out the devious plan by creating a group of hackers of different nationalities. These people were directed to attack systems and convert the profits into its equivalent credit. This event happened during the times when he was still serving as a US Secret Service informant.

Gonzalez was supposed to be punished with 25 years of imprisonment as the prosecutors have suggested. However, his argument indicated that the accused became ill with Asperger’s Syndrome and that he had already learned his lesson. This is the reason why he should accept a penalty of 15 years instead of 25 years.

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