The gang responsible for record identity thefts may also have
been responsible for hacking an outsourced Citibank ATM
network.
Quoting unnamed law enforcement officials, the Financial Times
today
reported that a hacking gang controlled by former police
informant Albert Gonzalez broke into a network linking 2,200
Citi-branded cash kiosks inside 7-Eleven stores between late 2007
through and February 2008.
Gonzalez and others are accused of stealing account details of
130 million customers from
Heartland Payment Systems. Gonzalez earlier
pleaded guilty to charges of stealing account details for about
45 million TJMaxx customers.
The network and the machines were owned by Texas-based
CardTronics, which took in monthly fees from Citibank, the FT
said.
According to court papers, the gang stole card and Pin codes
that others used to clone new cards that were used to steal about
$2m in cash from Citibank ATMs elsewhere. The thieves also withdrew
about $5m using compromised prepaid iWire cards. Most of the money
went to Russia.
Gonzalez had been the key informant in the 2004 takedown of
Shadowcrew, a
cyber criminal network that specialised in identity theft and bank
card cloning, which he had helped run, the FT said.