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Second TJX hacker pleads guilty

Date: September 24, 2008
Source: Scmagazineus.com


A Miami man pleaded guilty on Monday to charges of hacking and identity theft related to the high-profile data breaches at TJX and a number of other merchants.

Christopher Scott, 25, admitted to his role in computer intrusions at nine retailers that netted a cybercriminal gang more than 40 million credit and debit card numbers, prosecutors have said.

Between 2003 and 2007, the cyberbandits exploited insecure wireless networks, which allowed them to place "sniffer" trojans that captured credit card data as it passed between point-of-sale machines and payment processors.

Scott pleaded guilty to conspiracy, unauthorized access to computer systems, access device fraud and ID theft. He faces up to 22 years in prison and a $1 million dollar fine.

Scott was part of a gang that would scan "the airwaves in shopping strips in Miami from their cars looking for potentially vulnerable access points," according to a Monday news release from the U.S. Attorney's Office in Boston. "When they found one, they would park in adjacent lots or sit in nearby loaned or rented rooms with laptop computers until they were able to compromise the perimeter of the retailer's computer network."

Some of the retail victims included Marshalls -- which is owned by TJX -- Boston Market, Sports Authority, BJ's Wholesale Club and DSW.
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