Brian Salcedo
Brian Salcedo was convicted in 2004 of conspiracy to commit wire and computer fraud in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 371 for accessing the Lowe's home improvement chain's unsecured wireless LAN. Nineteen year old Brian Salcedo was charged with accessing the unsecuerd computer system at the Southfield, Michigan Lowe's store and installing a program to capture credit card numbers used during transactions. Although Salcedo did not obtain the credit card numbers, Lowe's and the FBI, acting on a tip, allowed and monitored the activity and claimed that six credit card numbers were captured and that the crime could have caused more than $2.5 million in damages. Salcedo was charged with 16 counts of wire fraud and unauthorized intrusion with a potential prison term of 150 years. He plead guilty to reduced charges as part of a plea bargain and he was sentenced to 9 years in federal prison. The government claims that at the time of its imposition, Brian Salcedo's sentence was the longest federal prison sentence ever given for a computer intrusion offense. Prior to Salcedo’s 108-month sentence, Kevin Mitnick's 68-month sentence was the longest. Brian Salcedo appealed his sentence, arguing that the actual damage incurred, not potential damages should have be used to determine his sentence. His appeal was denied by the U.S. 4th Circuit Court of Appeals on July 10, 2006.
References
"Wardriver pleads guilty in Lowe's WiFi hacks," SecurityFocus, June 6, 2004. Article
"Judgement in a Criminal Case, 5:03CR53-01, Western District of North Carolina" December 15, 2004. Judgement in a Criminal Case
Poulsen, Kevin. "Crazy-Long Hacker Sentence Upheld" July 11, 2006, Wired.Appeal of Sentence Denied