Criminal hacker 'Iceman' gets 13 years

A former security researcher turned criminal hacker has been sentenced to 13 years in federal prison for hacking into financial institutions and stealing credit card account numbers.

Max Ray Butler, who used the hacker pseudonym Iceman, was sentenced Friday morning in U.S. District Court in Pittsburgh on charges of wire fraud and identity theft. In addition to his 13-year sentence, Butler will face five years of supervised release and must pay US$27.5 million in restitution to his victims, according to Assistant U.S. Attorney Luke Dembosky, who prosecuted the case for the federal government.

Dembosky believes the 13 year sentence is the longest-ever handed down for hacking charges.

Butler, also known as Max Vision, pleaded guilty to wire fraud charges in June last year.

:story: Full story: Computerworld

That's incredible that he couldn't get a job with his knowledge of computers:

"I was homeless, staying on a friends couch. I couldn't get work," he wrote. In desperation, he turned again to cybercrime. By the time of his arrest in September 2007, he had built the largest marketplace for stolen credit and debit card information in the world."

Too bad he decided to try to make money that way. Good luck paying back 27 million!!!

Maybe he couldn't get a job because he wasn't trusted ;)