Operation Get Rich or Die Tryin’ Still Lives
Operation Get Rich or Die Tryin is the name that Albert Gonzalez gave to his scheme of stealing more than 130 million credit and debit card numbers from you and me. Today, Gonzalez, along with two unnamed Russian conspirators, was indicted in the state of New Jersey. Gonzalez, known by his alias of Segvec, was part of a cyber-crime ring that hacked into the computer systems of at least five major companies, including Heartland Payment Systems, 7-Eleven, TJMAXX, Hannaford Bros. Super Markets and Dave & Busters.
This is likely the largest case of identity theft ever prosecuted, comprising more that 130 million card numbers
Tactics: Gonzalez and his conspirators reviewed Fortune 500 Companies, performed reconnaissance on their retail stores, determined weaknesses in their payment systems and then utilized malware (malicious software) to intercept credit card numbers, expiration dates and names as they were transmitted from company to company