Max Ray Butler, a former security researcher, was just sentenced to 13 years in Federal prison for hacking into financial institutions under the alias “The Iceman”. He was found guilty of wire fraud and identity theft and will be made to pay 27.5 million dollars in restitution, in addition to his 13 year sentence and five years of supervised release.
It is believed that this sentence is the harshest ever doled out for any hacking crime, and is meant to be a message to other like-minded cyber- criminals. Admittedly, it’s a scary proposition that today’s script –kiddies and mom’- basement-dwellers might be able to create and exploit security holes like this.
Just a few years ago, bank robbers had to “leave the house” and “find a bank”. After they were done “casing the joint”, they would have to go back to the bank with guns, shake everyone down, control the crowd and then escape in a get-away car.” Having to do all of that is deterrent enough to any sane person. The fact that most bank robbers leave with little or no money, and THEN most likely get caught and go to prison, pretty much guarantees that no one that you know will ever rob a bank.
The Iceman found a way around all this; there was never really anything to stop him. He stole more than the most ambitious bank-robbing syndicate could ever dream of stealing in a lifetime, and he did it from home and, surely, even in his sleep in some cases. It’s worth bearing in mind that the $27mm is only what he got caught stealing.
So, if it takes a decade or two of hard time to make someone hesitate when it comes to this sort of thing, I’m all for it.