Florida Hacker Charged in Acxiom Data Theft

A Florida man has been charged with stealing data from Acxiom, a marketing company that handles customer information for some of the country's largest companies. The Justice Department says it may be the largest case of illegal invasion and theft of personal information to date.

Florida man has been indicted in alleged scheme to steal data from Acxiom , a marketing company that handles customer information on behalf of such firms as GE, Microsoft , IBM and many credit card issuers.

The 144-count indictment against Scott Levine of Boca Raton includes charges of conspiracy, fraud, money laundering and obstruction of justice, according to the Justice Department. Federal officials said Levine is accused of stealing around 8.2 gigabytes of data from Acxiom over the Internet, resulting in losses totaling over US$7 million.

Levine is described in the indictment as "the controlling force" in Snipermail.com, a Florida-based company which distributed advertisements via the Internet on behalf of advertisers and brokers.

In a statement, the Justice Department said the charges may represent the largest case of illegal invasion and theft of personal information to date.

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