The son of a Russian lawyer, Roman Seleznev, was sentenced last Friday (April 21) to 27 years and ordered to pay $169 million in restitution, after being found guilty of 38 charges, which included nine counts of hacking and 10 counts of wire fraud. For 15 years, Seleznev aka “Track2” hacked into more than 500 U.S. businesses, stole millions of credit card numbers and then sold them on selective websites. His sentencing is the first time in U.S. history that a hacker receives this amount of time in prison. Although Seleznev was first indicted in 2011, he was arrested in the Maldives in 2014 with a laptop that had more than 1.7 million credit card numbers. Prosecutors said Seleznev deserved the harsh sentence because he was “a pioneer” who helped grow the market for stolen credit card data and because he “became one of the most revered point-of-sale hackers in the criminal underworld.” In a statement, US Attorney Annette Hayes declared: Today is a bad day for hackers around the world… The notion that the Internet is a Wild West where anything goes is a thing of the past. As Mr. Seleznev has now learned, and others should take note—we are working closely with our law enforcement partners around the world to find, apprehend, and bring to justice those who use the internet to steal and destroy our peace of mind. Seleznev was tried in Seattle, which was the location of several of the businesses he was said to have hacked. His trial gained international attention once his relation to Valery Seleznev, a member of the Russian Parliament and ally to Russian President Vladimir Putin. The Seleznev family believes that the arrest is politically-driven. Photo credit: Dept. of Justice
