Editing Albert Gonzalez (section)

==Heartland Payment Systems==
In August 2009 Gonzalez was indicted in Newark, New Jersey on charges dealing with hacking into the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heartland_Payment_Systems Heartland Payment Systems], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citibank Citibank]-branded [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/7-Eleven 7-Eleven] ATM's and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hannaford_Brothers Hannaford Brothers] computer systems. Heartland bore the bulk of the attack in which 130 million card numbers were stolen. Hannaford had 4.6 million numbers stolen. Two other retailers were not disclosed in the indictment, however, Gonzalez's attorney told StorefrontBacktalk that two of the retailers were [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J.C._Penney J.C. Penney] and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Target_Corporation Target Corporation].<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-20">[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert_Gonzalez#cite_note-20 [20]]</sup> Heartland reported that it had lost $12.6 million in the attack including legal fees.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-21">[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert_Gonzalez#cite_note-21 [21]]</sup> Gonzalez allegedly called the scheme "Operation Get Rich or Die Tryin."<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-MiamiHerald_1-4">[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert_Gonzalez#cite_note-MiamiHerald-1 [1]]</sup>

According to the indictment the attacks by Gonzalez and two unidentified hackers "in or near [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russia Russia]" along with unindicted conspirator "P.T." from Miami began on December 26, 2007, at [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heartland_Payment_Systems Heartland Payment Systems], August 2007 against 7-Eleven and Hannaford Brothers in November 2007 and two other unidentified companies.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-DOJNJ_22-0">[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert_Gonzalez#cite_note-DOJNJ-22 [22]]</sup> Gonzalez and his cohorts targeted large companies and studied their check out terminals and then attacked the companies from internet-connected computers in New Jersey, Illinois, [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Latvia Latvia], the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Netherlands Netherlands], and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ukraine Ukraine].

They covered their attacks over the Internet using more than one messaging screen name, storing data related to their attacks on multiple Hacking Platforms, disabling programs that logged inbound and outbound traffic over the Hacking Platforms, and disguising, through the use of “[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proxy_server proxies],” the Internet Protocol addresses from which their attacks originated.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-DOJNJ_22-1">[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert_Gonzalez#cite_note-DOJNJ-22 [22]]</sup>

The indictment said the hackers tested their program against 20 [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti_virus_programs anti-virus programs].

Rene Palomino Jr., attorney for Gonzalez, charged in a blog on the ''New York Times'' website that the indictment arose out of squabbling among U.S. Attorney offices in New York, Massachusetts, and New Jersey. Palomino said that Gonzalez was in negotiations with New York and Massachusetts for a plea deal in connection with the T.J. Maxx case when New Jersey made its indictment. Palomino identified the unindicted conspirator "P.T." as Damon Patrick Toey who had pled guilty in the T.J. Maxx case. Palomino said Toey rather than Gonzalez was the ringleader of the Heartland case. Palomino further said, “Mr. Toey has been cooperating since Day One. He was staying at (Gonzalez’s) apartment. This whole creation was Mr. Toey’s idea...It was his baby. This was not Albert Gonzalez. I know for a fact that he wasn’t involved in all of the chains that were hacked from New Jersey.”<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-23">[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert_Gonzalez#cite_note-23 [23]]</sup>

Palomino said one of the unnamed Russian hackers in the Heartland case was Maksym Yastremskiy who was also indicted in the T.J. Maxx but is now serving 30 years in a [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turkey Turkish] prison on a charge of hacking Turkish banks in a separate matter.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-24">[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert_Gonzalez#cite_note-24 [24]]</sup> Investigators said Yastremskiy and Gonzalez exchanged 600 messages and that Gonzalez paid him $400,000 through [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E-gold e-gold].<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-MiamiHerald_1-5">[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert_Gonzalez#cite_note-MiamiHerald-1 [1]]</sup>

Yastremskiy was arrested in July 2007 in Turkey on charges of hacking into 12 banks in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turkey Turkey]. The Secret Service investigation into him was used to build the case against Gonzalez including a [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sneak_and_peek_warrant sneak and peek] covert review of Yastremskiy's laptop in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dubai Dubai] in 2006 and a review of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disk_image disk image] of the Latvia computer leased from Cronos IT and alleged to have been used in the attacks.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-25">[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert_Gonzalez#cite_note-25 [25]]</sup>

After the indictment, Heartland issued a statement saying that it does not know how many card numbers were stolen from the company and that it does not know how the U.S. government reached the 130 million number.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-26">[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert_Gonzalez#cite_note-26 [26]]</sup>