The Lowe's Hack: A Case of Cybercrime and Betrayal

Brian Salcedo received the longest hacker sentence in U.S. history for attempting to steal credit card information.

### The Lowe's Hack: A Cautionary Tale of Cybercrime and Consequences
* 💻 In 2003, Brian Salcedo and his accomplices executed a hack into Lowe's internal network, which led to Salcedo receiving the **longest prison sentence in U.S. history at that time**—**nine years**.
* 🔒 The hack was orchestrated under pressure from a mysterious figure known as the "**Soup Nazi**," later revealed to be **Albert Gonzalez**, who had connections to organized crime and was allegedly acting as a **government informant**.
* 📅 Salcedo's legal battle began after he claimed that Gonzalez had threatened him, arguing that he would not have **planted the credit card sniffer without the intimidation**, which raised questions about his **nine-year sentence**.
* 👮 In August 2008, Gonzalez was arrested with **over $20,000 in cash and a firearm**, leading to revelations about his involvement in various cybercrimes and his role as an **informant for the U.S. Secret Service**.
* 🕵 The FBI became aware of the Lowe's hack when the security team detected a breach, leading to the arrest of Salcedo and his partner, Adam, who had **modified Lowe's credit card processing software** to **capture customer information**.
* 📊 Salcedo and Adam pleaded guilty to conspiracy and computer fraud, but their sentences were based on the **potential harm that could have resulted from their actions**, with Adam receiving **26 months** and Salcedo facing **nine years**.
* 🔍 Four years later, Salcedo learned that the individual who pressured him into the hack might have been **working for the government**, prompting him to consider **challenging his sentence based on new evidence**.
* 🛠 The story highlights the complexities of cybercrime and the legal repercussions that can ensue, illustrating how **one poor decision can lead to significant and lasting consequences**.

In 2003, the longest prison sentence in U.S. history at the time was given to a hacker named Brian Salcido. Salcido and two accomplices hacked into Lowe's internal network, attempting to steal credit card information and sell it to a guy known as the suit. All with the assistance of a Pringles can. Now, before we go into any more detail, let me introduce you to Adam Bobbill. He was known as the shy giant of a man who stood at six feet five inches tall, who would describe himself as a geek with a bad childhood. Saucedo apparently met Adam through local computer circles, and the two became friends. Now we have that background information. Our story begins in the spring of 2003. Adam and his roommate Paul Timmons were war driving around Southfield, Michigan. While war driving, they managed to stumble across an unsecured network at Lowe's. War driving is the act of looking for a publicly accessible Wi-Fi network from a moving vehicle using a laptop or a smartphone. Six months after finding the unsecured

Network Adam came back to the same location with Saucedo. Together, they discovered a weakness in the system and found out they could jump directly from the Southfield lows to the company's central database in North Carolina and further to the local networks of the stores around the entire country. This is exactly what they did over the following few weeks. While doing this, they'll planting a software inside the server. More on that later. Lowe's network engineers were able to detect the break-ins and piece together timings of when the break-ins would occur. On November 6, 2003, Lowe's officials called the Charlotte office of the FBI as there was a break-in happening at that very second. Using system monitoring tools, the Lowe's team determined a security breach was happening that very moment in Southfield. The FBI immediately went to stake out the Southfield store's parking lot. While in the car park, they spotted a very suspicious car, a Pontiac Grand Prix. Now, normally, this car isn't very suspicious.

but what makes it so suspicious was one of two reasons. The first reason was the two men sitting inside the car typing away on their laptops. But the dead giveaway was that the car was bristled with antennas, one of the antennas being a Pringles can that was wrapped in foil. So picture this right, you're an FBI agent staking out a parking lot trying to find something suspicious. You see a Grand Prix X which has two guys typing on in their laptops and 10 is poking out and one of them's a Pringles can. Anyway, the FBI ran the license plate of the car and it came back with Adam's name. The agents watched them work for about 20 minutes. After that, they tailed them to a local Caesar's pizza restaurant. While low security team worked to figure out what the hackers had done, the security team had discovered that the pair had modified a created piece of software called TCP credit. Lowe's use TCP credit to handle credit card transactions. The two changed this program so it would

stash customers' credit card numbers where the hackers could come back later and retrieve them. The program had collected only six credit card numbers when it was discovered. Shortly after this, the FBI had arrested Salcedo and Adam. Salcido and Adam pleaded guilty to conspiracy and Computer Fraud. The sentence they received was largely based on the amount of harm that would have occurred if the plan succeeded. On appeal, Saucedo's lawyers argued that the Hacker's sentence should have been proportionate with the actual damage that was caused, but the appeal was denied. Adam got a total of 26 months in federal prison, and the 21-year-old Brian Salcedo got a whopping nine years. Now, this is where the story gets interesting. Four years after pleading guilty, hacker Brian Salcedo learned from prison that a co-conspirator who pressured him to go through with the hack was possibly working for the feds at the time. So, say they started replaying, and he's had a crucial moment right before the crime.

A week before he had planted the credit card sniffing code, he nearly backed out of the entire scheme. So, Sado says he started getting cold feet when he realized that Lowe's Network administrators had detected his presence on the network. He wanted to bail, but he had already lined up a buyer for the credit cards, a mysterious figure in the computer underground known as The Soup Nazi, who wouldn't take no for an answer. The Soup Nazi told Salcedo and his partner that it was too late to turn back. He insinuated threats against us and said we had to continue doing what we were doing, said Salcido in a phone interview from prison. Federal indictments unmasked the Soup Nazi as a 27-year-old Albert Gonzalez. Gonzalez is the alleged mastermind of a series of Wi-Fi-based intrusions into U.S. retailers, including TJ Maxx, Office Max, and DSW. Perfecting the attack pioneered by Salcedo, Gonzalez allegedly stole at least 40 million credit card and debit card numbers, worth millions of dollars.

on the black market court records revealed that Gonzalez had been busted in July 2003. three months before saucedo's Lowe's hack began at his arrest the government emits Gonzalez became a key informant for the U.S Secret Service eventually aiding in the 2004 arrest of 28 fraudsers linked to the credit card fraud supersite known as shadowcrew.com now I know for a fact that he was an informant during the time that he was dealing with her says Salcedo another source involved in the lowest hack confirmed salcedo's account and said that the suit Nazi made the impression that he was connected to organized crime and demanded that Salcido go through with the attack although it's unlikely that the Secret Service instructed Gonzalez to threaten Salcedo and the agency may not have even been aware that its informant was dealing with the Lowe's hacker these Revelations raise enough questions of potential trap for saucedo to attempt a court challenge to his nine year prison sentence.

as stated before, it was the longest sentence in U.S. history at the time. This was supposed to be upheld by federal appeal in court. Saucedo's argument would basically be that Gonzalez threatened him as a government agent in order to induce him to plant the sniffer. He would not have planted the sniffer but for the threat, and his sentence was based on that. Societo desperately tries to get in contact with his prosecutor to attempt to challenge the decision in court. Although so say it, the prosecutor did not return a phone call Tuesday. All this information about Albert Gonzalez came out because he was arrested in possession of more than twenty thousand dollars in cash and a Glock 27 firearm. All this occurred in August of 2008. Now Saucedo had served his time at the federal prison camp in McKenney, Pennsylvania. He had a job at the welding shop after serving his time. I think it's safe to say he won't be maliciously hacking anymore. Thank you for watching.

They Hacked Into Lowes Using A Pringles Can

Code Green

In 2003, Brian Salcido received the longest prison sentence in U.

history for hacking into Lowe's internal network with two accomplices, attempting to steal credit card information.

Salcido and his friend Adam Bobbill, a shy giant, met through local computer circles and bonded over their shared interest in computers.

Their criminal activities began with war driving in Southfield, Michigan, where they discovered Lowe's unsecured network.

Adam and Saucedo exploited a system weakness to jump from Southfield to Lowe's central database in North Carolina, planting software along the way.

Lowe's network engineers detected the break-ins and alerted the FBI, who staked out the Southfield store.

The scheme was orchestrated by Albert Gonzalez, known as The Soup Nazi, who threatened Salcedo and his partner to continue the cybercrime, ultimately stealing 40 million credit card and debit card numbers.

Two men typing on laptops in a car bristled with antennas, including a Pringles can, caught the attention of FBI agents.

The duo modified a software program to stash customers' credit card numbers, collecting six before being arrested.

Salcedo received nine years in prison, while Adam got 26 months, and four years later, Salcedo learned his co-conspirator may have been working for the feds.

The Controversial Case of Saucedo and Gonzalez

Saucedo's lengthy prison sentence was influenced by Gonzalez's alleged threat as a government agent, leading to Saucedo planting a sniffer.

Gonzalez, arrested in 2008 for cash and firearm possession, became a key informant for the U.

Secret Service, aiding in the arrest of fraudsters linked to a major credit card fraud operation.

Saucedo, after serving his time, sought to challenge his sentence, raising questions about the Secret Service's involvement and Gonzalez's actions.