InBoxRevenge KS Forum

A skilled San Francisco computer intruder was sentenced here Friday to 13 years in federal prison for stealing nearly two million credit card numbers from banks, businesses and other hackers — in what is the longest hacking sentence in U.S. history.

Max Ray Vision, 37, was also ordered to pay $27.5 million in restitution, and to serve five years under court supervision following his release, during which time he’ll be allowed to use computers only for legitimate employment or education.

Vision’s 13-year term is the longest U.S. hacking sentence, though that record likely will be eclipsed next month when confessed TJX hacker Albert Gonzalez faces the first of two sentencing hearings. One of Gonzalez’s plea agreements contemplates a term of 17 to 25 years in prison.

The defendant’s sentence is longer than the one given to Michigan hacker Brian Salcedo. He was handed a then-unprecedented, nine-year term in 2004 for cracking the corporate network of the Lowe’s chain of home improvement stores.