{"id":3086,"date":"2011-04-11T10:45:11","date_gmt":"2011-04-11T09:45:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.darknet.org.uk\/?p=3086"},"modified":"2015-09-09T19:37:15","modified_gmt":"2015-09-09T11:37:15","slug":"tjx-hacker-albert-gonzalez-claims-government-made-him-do-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.darknet.org.uk\/2011\/04\/tjx-hacker-albert-gonzalez-claims-government-made-him-do-it\/","title":{"rendered":"TJX Hacker Albert Gonzalez Claims Government Made Him Do It"},"content":{"rendered":"

The latest news from the tinfoil hat wearing conspiracy camp is that Albert Gonzalez<\/a> the TJX<\/a> hacker who was convicted in 2009 was authorized to hack by the US Government.<\/p>\n

Back in 2009 we posted about that too – TJX Hacker Albert \u201cSegvec\u201d Gonzalez Indicted By Federal Grand Jury<\/a>.<\/p>\n

And now he’s saying his actions were endorsed by the government and that he was paid $1200USD a month to get close to the underground hacker community.<\/p>\n

Convicted hacker Albert Gonzalez, who is currently serving a 20-year prison sentence after pleading guilty to the massive hacks at TJX, Heartland and numerous retailers, now claims that he thought he was authorized and directed by the government to carry out the illegal activities.<\/p>\n

In a petition filed last month, first reported by Wired , Gonzalez informed the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts that he would like to withdraw his guilty plea and asked the court to vacate its sentence. In his 25-page petition, Gonzalez blamed his attorneys Martin Weinberg and Rene Palomino for not properly representing him or informing him about his defense options. Gonzalez also claimed that his lawyers did not appeal his sentence as he had asked them to.<\/p>\n

Gonzalez was arrested in Miami in 2008 along with 10 other individuals on charges relating to the thefts at TJX, Dave & Busters, BJ’s Wholesale Club, OfficeMax, Boston Market, Barnes & Noble, Sports Authority, Forever 21 and DSW. Later he was also charged with the break-ins at Heartland Payment Systems, Hannaford, 7-Eleven and two other unnamed retailers. Gonzalez was indicted in three different states, New York, Massachusetts and New Jersey for his crimes. Prosecutors alleged that Gonzalez and his international gang of cyber criminals stole data on more than 130 million debit and credit cards over a multi-year period. <\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I guess the fact he’s serving a 20 year sentence has really sunk in and he’s looking at ways to get out the jail time. It’s a feasible enough story I suppose, almost like the online version of a snitch. They get paid allowances too for sneaking around, watching what dodgy characters are up to and reporting back to their police buddies.<\/p>\n

Plus if this guy does have some legitimate hacking skills and he used then to get close to carding rings and infiltrate chat rooms he could get some very useful information. It’d be a shame if his tale is true and he’s basically been stitched up by the US Government<\/a>.<\/p>\n