"Iceman" hacker pleads guilty, faces 60 years
A hacker who went by the alias "Iceman" pleaded guilty Monday in federal
court in Pittsburgh to charges of wire fraud and now faces up to 60 years
in prison.
Max Butler, also known as Max Vision, 36, of San Francisco, admitted
Monday that he stole nearly two million credit card numbers from banks and
other hackers, and then sold the stolen data in an online forum he operated
dubbed "Cardersmarket."
"I actually did the actions that are relevant in the indictment, and I am
guilty," Butler said during the trial,
according
to Wired.
Butler - who also used the aliases Aphex, Digits and Darkest - was charged
in 2007 with five counts of wire fraud and transferring stolen identity
information. According to the complaint against Butler, he used wireless
hijacking tactics while in various hotel rooms to break into the databases
of financial institutions and credit card processing centers.
In 2007, he was
arrested and charged after he sold more than 100 credit card records to
an informant working with the U.S. Secret Service in Pittsburgh.
Luke Dembosky, the assistant U.S. attorney prosecuting the case, told
SCMagazineUS.com on Tuesday that Butler pleaded guilty to two of the wire
fraud charges, and the other charges against him will likely be dismissed
when he is sentenced on Oct. 20.