Hacker or Computer Expert?

September 2007

A California man who served jail time for hacking hundreds of military and government computers nine years ago was charged yesterday with new computer crimes: stealing tens of thousands of credit card accounts by breaking into bank and card processing networks. Known by his alias Max Vision and by his online nicknames of Iceman, Digits and Aphex, the man was indicted Tuesday by a federal grand jury in Pittsburgh on three counts of wire fraud and two counts of transferring stolen identity information. Arrested last week in California, where he remains, he could face up to 40 years in prison and a $1.5 million fine if he is convicted on all five counts. According to the indictment, he hacked multiple computer networks of financial institutions and card processing firms, sold the account and identity information he stole from those systems, and even received a percentage of the money that others made selling merchandise they'd purchased with the stolen card numbers. The U.S. Secret Service ran the investigation into the hacks and resulting scams, which took place between June 2005 and September of this year. The man was charged in Pittsburgh because he'd sold data on 103 credit card accounts to a Pennsylvanian who was cooperating with authorities. He and others also operated a Web site used as a meeting place for criminals who bought and sold credit card and personal identity information.