Guilty Hacker Faces Lengthy Sentence for one of the Largest Cybercrimes in History

A hacker from Miami has pleaded guilty in one of the world's biggest cyber fraud cases.

Albert Gonzalez, who used "soupnazi" and "segvec" as hacker aliases, was charged with conspiracy to hack into computer networks at major United States retail and financial groups, and stealing data on tens of millions of credit cards and debit cards.

On Tuesday, Gonzalez pleaded guilty to all the charges and now faces a lengthy jail sentence for what has been described as "one of the largest" cybercrimes in history. Gonzalez maliciously gained access to payment card networks operated by a number of companies, including convenience store chain 7-Eleven and Heartland Payment Systems.

He also used several servers to test and store malware used to attack corporate networks and steal tens of millions of credit card and debit card numbers, affecting over 250 financial institutions.

The case is one of the largest data breaches ever investigated and prosecuted in the United States, according to the statement.

Gonzalez faces sentencing in at least three separate cases related to hacking activities, in Massachusetts, New Jersey and New York. He will be given a prison term of between 17 and 25 years as part of the plea agreement, a statement from the US Department of Justice says.

The sentence in the New Jersey case will run concurrently with those imposed in the Massachusetts and New York cases as part of Gonzalez' plea bargain.

Paul Fishman, US Attorney of the District of New Jersey, says commercial hackers like Gonzalez believe they are immune from detection and prosecution as they lurk in the shadows of the Internet, but time and again they are caught, prosecuted and sentenced to lengthy federal prison terms. Other hackers should sit up and take notice, Fishman says.