Venyu Blog

Albert Gonzales, the computer hacker who broke into TJX computers in December 2006, exposing at least 47 million credit cards to Gonzalez and his group of professional hackers, was sentenced to 20 years in prison on Thursday, March 25 in U.S. District Court in Boston. The breach is considered the largest case of identity theft in U.S. history and widely credited as the catalyst for the nation’s toughest customer privacy legislation in the nation, Massachusetts 201 CMR 17. The legislation, which took effect on March 1, requires encryption of any personal information contained in either paper or electronic records of any business that licenses or owns personal data of any Massachusetts resident. A former federal informant, Gonzalez faces a $25,000 fine and $192 million in restitution. (In comparison, TJX was fined $2.5M in a 2009 court judgment against the company for its own lax security). The implications for MASS 201 CMR 17 on your business and how Venyu can help it become compliant with the law can be found here. A newspaper account of the sentencing can be found here.