A hacker that breached the computer security of a number of American stores, to steal millions of dollars from merchants, has been correctly sentenced to 20-years in prison for his crimes.

Miami hacker, Albert Gonzalez, was on the receiving end of a U.S. District Judge's wrath, who threw the book at him, for hacking into the computer systems of the stores TJ Maxx, Barnes And Noble, Office Max, Dave and Buster's, Hannaford Supermarkets and 7-Eleven.

Judge Douglas P. Woodstock, stated the hacker damaged the U.S. economy via his actions and that he did. The U.S. economy is already in freefall. It doesn't need electronic thieves expanding the damage as well.

It was a crime of greed, as he stole millions in credit card numbers from retailers, even going so far as to bury $1 million dollars in pilfered money in his parents backyard, which federal agents located and dug up.

That kind of security breach is inexcusable, dangerous and unnecessary. He should have sought gainful employment like everyone else, utilizing his computer abilities, rather than resorting to crime with the intention of becoming wealthy at other people's expense.

For everyone who has been the victim of identity theft, due to a lazy, shiftless hacker sitting at home in his underwear, cruising the internet for ill-gotten gains, the sentence is just, as the economic damage and consumer inconvenience it creates is significant. It is not a victimless crime.

Some identity thieves love to excuse their conduct by stating banks are rich and they can afford the losses. Still, it's not your money for you to decide what it should be spent on.

There is also another angle to the crime. Victims of identity theft spend many distressed hours trying to straighten out their credit reports and bank accounts after being targeted by hackers. It's time for such hackers to spend substantial time in prison thinking about what they did.

I recently had to spend time helping a friend straighten out her credit report and bank account after she was targeted by identity thieves.

The money had been illegally removed from her account via identity theft and as a result, while she was away for two weeks, tending to funeral arrangements for her dad, her mortgage, credit card and utility bills bounced.

When she went to the bank and discovered what happened, she broke down and started crying, as it could not have come at a worst time.

I had to call different credit bureaus for her to report what happened, enabling them to flag her account/social security number as a victim of identity theft, in the event the thieves decided to do further damage.

Then we had to go to the bank for a long time, who in turn had to thoroughly go through her account, print out all the details/activity and write, then fax letters to her mortgage, utility and credit card companies, advising them of what transpired and not to hold it against her, as the bank was issuing a temporary monetary credit to cover the damages, until they could go after the identity thieves through the authorities, to get the stolen money bank.

She was grieving for her dad and already depressed, then she had to sit in a bank for hours to face this ordeal, because some identity thief won't get a real job. Lock them up, is the Judiciary Report's assessment.

STORY SOURCE:

Hacker Gonzalez gets 20 years for Heartland breach

http://www.sfgate.com

TJX Hacker Paid $75K As Secret Service Informant

http://www.crn.com