TJX Breach Hacker Faces 17- 25-Years; He Was a Secret Service Informant??

The mastermind behind some of the most notorious data breaches in history (Heartland Payment Systems, TJX and others) faces sentencing this week. The word is that prosecutors are aiming to give Albert Gonzalez the maximum sentence of 25 years in prison. We imagine justice will be rightly served.

In a bizarre twist, Gonzales was purportedly on the U.S. Secret Service pay roll — making $75,000 per year — as an informant. Wow. We all know that the Intelligence Community often needs to be “in bed” with shady characters, but this one takes the cake. Our big question was Gonzales on the pay roll when he committed these data breaches? Could this mean that the Secret Service helped fund his criminal activity?

Read the full blog post here.