Description :

Albert Gonzalez

Albert Gonzalez, also known by his online aliases "soupnazi," "segvec," and "j4guar17," is a notorious hacker responsible for some of the largest data breaches in history. Born in Cuba and raised in Miami, Gonzalez developed an early fascination with computers. By his teenage years, he was already hacking into systems, including a notable incident involving NASA when he was just 14 years old.

Gonzalez's major criminal activities included leading a group of hackers that targeted retail and financial institutions, stealing tens of millions of credit and debit card numbers. Among the victims were Heartland Payment Systems, TJX Companies, 7-Eleven, and Hannaford Brothers. The Heartland breach alone resulted in the theft of 130 million card numbers, making it one of the largest data breaches ever.

In 2003, Gonzalez was arrested for fraudulent ATM withdrawals and subsequently became an informant for the U.S. Secret Service. Despite this cooperation, he continued his criminal activities, using his inside knowledge to further his hacking operations. His group employed techniques like "wardriving" and installing "sniffer" programs to capture card data from retail systems .

Gonzalez was eventually arrested in 2008, and in 2010, he was sentenced to 20 years and one day in federal prison after pleading guilty to multiple charges, including conspiracy, computer fraud, wire fraud, access device fraud, and aggravated identity theft. He also faced fines and was ordered to serve three years of supervised release after his prison term.