TJX Mastermind Attempts Deep Cover Infiltration Appeal
The Register reports Albert Gonzalez, mastermind of the infamous TJ Maxx hack, has sought to get a judge to set aside his earlier guilty plea and conviction in the case, by arguing he carried out the hack while working as a paid government informant. Gonzalez, 29, who escaped jail time in 2004 over his involvement in the sale of 1.5 million stolen credit and ATM card numbers while a member of the Shadowcrew group, by ratting out his erstwhile partners in cybercrime, went on to bigger and better things. While supposedly working for the Secret Service, he acted as ringleader in a massive credit card theft and laundering operation involving an estimated 170 million credit cards between around July 2005 and his arrest in May 2008.
