Hacker hunter turns bad

Albert Gonzalez once used his wily computer skills to help the U.S. government track down hackers. Now it seems he’s crossed over to the other side, where instead of spying to protect U.S. citizens, he’s been spying to steal millions of credit and debit card numbers from online retail networks.

His is the biggest financial data theft accusation on record, says the U.S. Department of Justice – 130 million account numbers recently, added to 40 million from a previous charge. Gonzalez, 28, was already in prison, awaiting trial in NY for allegedly attempting to hack into the Dave & Buster’s computer network, when New Jersey indicted him for conspiracy to steal private data. The two suspected of being his co-conspirators are apparently Russian, but beyond that have not yet been identified.

According to the prosecutors, the trio basically hacked their way into corporate networks and installed malicious software, so when they returned, they would have easy access to all the financial data they wanted. The alleged victims of the theft include customers of 7-Eleven and Hannaford Brothers, as well as the NJ credit card processor Heartland Payment Systems.

If convicted of the charges, Gonzalez faces up to 20 years in prison.