Welsh Credit Card Hacker Sentenced

SWANSEA, Wales (AP) - A hacker who broke into e-commerce Internet sites in five countries and stole information on more than 26,000 credit card holders was sentenced Friday to three years of probation and psychiatric treatment.

Raphael Gray, 19, expressed relief after the sentencing at Swansea Crown Court, saying he had expected to be imprisoned after pleading guilty to 10 charges of computer fraud.

Gray was arrested in March 2000 at his home in southern Wales following investigations by the FBI (news - web sites), the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, Internet security consultants and local police.

He later admitted breaking into nine e-commerce Web sites in the United States, Canada, Thailand, Japan and Britain over a period of several months.

Using the screen name ``Curador,'' Gray then posted credit card details of thousands of people on his own Web site. The FBI estimated potential losses to the credit card holders and affected companies at $3 million.

A second Welsh teen-ager who was arrested with Gray was released without charge.

Gray has maintained he committed the crimes to prove that security on the Internet is inadequate. ``I would do it all again, but another time I would choose to ensure that I acted legally,'' he told reporters after sentencing.

Gray's defense team argued that he suffered chronic low self-esteem and committed the crimes after an unstable mental state was aggravated by a blow to the head.

Judge Gareth Davies ordered Gray to serve three years of probation, community service and treatment.

An Internet security firm that provided expert testimony for the prosecution criticized the sentence, saying it was not tough enough to deter other hackers from committing crimes.

``The crime is tantamount to stealing lots and lots of credit cards out of your and mine's pockets,'' said Neil Barrett, technical director of Information Risk Management.

``Frankly, I would have liked to see him ... go to prison,'' Barrett said.