Two Russians jailed in 160 million credit card details theft
Two Russian Nationals were given US federal prison sentences for their respective roles in a 2013 data breach which compromised 160 million credit card numbers and resulted in hundreds of millions of dollars in losses.
Vladimir Drinkman, 37, and Dmitriy Smilianets, 34, along with three other codefendants admitted to carrying out one of the country’s largest hacking operations affecting entities including Dow Jones, NASDAQ, JCPenney, JetBlue, Heartland Payment Systems, TJX, Hannaford Bros. and 7-Eleven with three of the affected organisations claiming reported losses in excess of US$ 300 million (£214 million), according to a 15 February DOJ press release
Drinkman was sentenced to 144 months in prison and three years of supervised release after pleading guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit unauthorised access of protected computers and one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud in a manner affecting a financial institution. Smilianets was sentenced to 51 months and 21 days in prison along with five years of supervised release after he pled guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud in a manner affecting a financial institution.
“Drinkman and Smilianets not only stole over 160 million credit card numbers from credit card processors, banks, retailers, and other corporate victims, they also used their bounty to fuel a robust underground market for hacked information,” US Acting Assistant Attorney General John P. Cronan said in the release.
Source | scmagazineuk
