Albert Gonzales: Public Enemy #1 When It Comes to Data Breaches
It’s hard to image that one rogue hacker — oh, and sprinkle in two Russians — was able to steal more than 130 million credit and debit card numbers in what U.S. authorities said they believe is the largest hacking and identity theft case ever prosecuted. This one man, who went by the name of “Soupnazi” is a gentleman named Albert Gonzales, who is a former government informant who is already in jail in connection with hacking cases. He was the mastermind behind the breaches from credit-card processor Heartland Payment Systems (HPY.N) and retail chains 7-Eleven Inc and Hannaford Brothers Co.
Here’s the kicker about Gonzales. He was indicted along with 10 others from five countries on accusations of stealing 41 million credit and debit card numbers from major retailers, including TJX Cos Inc (TJX.N), owner of the TJ Maxx and Marshall’s retail chains. Prosecutors said that ring caused more than $400 million in damages.
So, this one person was behind two of the most significant data breaches in history? Amazing to think that one person had the power and vision to carry out these breaches. And, of course, we applaud law enforcement for bringing this man to justice. We just hope that there are not junior “Albert Gonzales-in-training” out there.
Also, check out this MSNBC clip with more information:
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What happened to the numbers he stole? Have they since been used or were they just stored for selling on later?
Albert Gonzales is now famous for being caught. What scares me far worse are the ones who haven’t been, or perhaps will never be caught, because they are smarter than Gonzales.
Besides Gonzales, it’s the “enablers” who are responsible. The enablers I am referring to are the organizations he broke into to swipe the data. We currently do not have sufficient legal penalties against companies who allow themselves to be violated. There’s very little damage done to them when their data is stolen, but the accumulated effect, when the end user data is added together, is humongous. It is the user personal information that suffers the most damage, and companies that house the data are not held accountable when there is a breach in the databases.