Man breaks ID theft record.

• Position: DATA SECURITY - Identity theft - Brief article

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A Miami man has gained the dubious honor of attempting he largest heist of credit and debit card information ever in the United States.

In August, federal prosecutors charged Albert Gonzalez, a former government informant, of trying to steal 130 million account numbers. He had helped the U.S. Secret Service find hackers, but the agency discovered he was simultaneously passing information about active investigations to criminals.

Authorities say Gonzalez broke his own record for identity theft by hacking into the networks of 7-Eleven, Hannaford Brothers supermarket chain, and Heartland Payment Systems, a New Jersey-based card payment processor, beginning in October 2006. He allegedly penetrated the networks through a sophisticated attack, stole the data, and then sent it to computers in California, Illinois, Latvia, the Netherlands, and Ukraine.

Gonzalez was indicted and charged with conspiring with two others to steal private information. If convicted, he faces 20 years in prison. He is currently in jail awaiting trial in an unrelated hacking case in which he helped hack...