Scott Levine, the operator of the now defunct noted "Spam factory," Snipermail.com has been convicted on more that one hundred counts of illegally acccessing personal data via marketing vendor Acxiom Corp (and in what is undoubtedly a coincidence, read about Acxiom's escalated commitment to fraud prevention here).

The data access irregularities at Snipermail were first discovered two years ago. In total some 1.6 million records were accessed illegally by the company after Levine utilized a "security flaw" in Acxiom's FTP server to gain access to personal records held by the data company. After adding that data to Snipermail's existing database, Mr. Levine also approached credit bureau, Experian about buying the company.

Via the Washington Post:

Marketer Found Guilty Of Data Theft

Associated Press
Saturday, August 13, 2005; Page D02

LITTLE ROCK, Ark., Aug. 12 -- A Florida man was found guilty Friday of stealing information from data-management company Acxiom Corp. in what prosecutors said was the largest federal computer theft trial ever.

A jury convicted Scott Levine, the owner of defunct e-mail marketing contractor Snipermail.com, on 120 counts of unauthorized access to data, two counts of access device fraud and one count of obstruction of justice. Jurors cleared Levine of 13 counts of unauthorized access of a protected computer, one conspiracy count and one count of money laundering.

Statutory maximum sentences for his convictions total 640 years in prison and fines of $30.7 million, but his punishment likely will be much less under federal sentencing guidelines. Sentencing was set for Jan. 9.

Prosecutors said Levine and his company stole 1.6 billion customer records, including names, e-mail and postal addresses. The government did not charge anyone with identity theft.

Six Snipermail employees pleaded guilty to conspiracy charges and testified against Levine in the case.

"We're very pleased with the outcome," U.S. Attorney H.E. "Bud" Cummins said outside U.S. District Court. "These are very serious crimes, a huge amount of data that was stolen for monetary gain and he should be held accountable."

Levine's lawyer, David Garvin, said the verdicts were "compromised" because the jury found Levine guilty based on the same evidence jurors acquitted him on in the other counts.

Little Rock-based Acxiom, which serves large corporations by collecting and managing information for marketing purposes, said it has tightened its security since the unauthorized access was discovered two years ago.

Labels: database, identity theft, money laundering