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I’d almost forgotten that David Spark ambushed Ben Tomjave, Andrew Storms and me with a video camera on the first day of RSA last week.  I think we literally hadn’t even had the time to get more than 10 steps beyond the escalator when David found us.  Which is my way of saying none of us had any idea what was gong on at the convention yet, we were just talking off the top of our head.  Was this really only a week and a half ago?  I didn’t end up seeing a lot of tokenization at RSA, though I did get to talk to some of the key players about end to end encryption.

Humza Zaman, a co-conspirator in the hack of TJX and other companies, was sentenced Thursday in Boston to 46 months in prison and fined $75,000 for his role in the conspiracy. The sentence matches what prosecutors were seeking.

Zaman, a 33-year-old former programmer at Barclays Bank, was charged with laundering between $600,000 and $800,000 for hacker Albert Gonzalez, who is currently awaiting sentencing on charges that he and others hacked into TJX, Office Max, Heartland Payment Systems and numerous other companies to steal data on more than 100 million credit and debit card accounts.

Zaman pleaded guilty in April to one count of conspiracy. His sentence includes three years of supervised release with a couple of conditions — Zaman cannot have access to ID information or financial information without prior approval from the government and must disclose his conviction to any future employer. Upon release, Zaman will not be barred from using computers.

Zaman is the second conspirator in the TJX case to be charged. Former Morgan Stanley coder, Stephen Watt, was sentenced in December to two years in prison for his role in the TJX case, which involved supplying Gonzalez with a sniffer program used to siphon card data from the TJX network.

Once the card data was stolen, mules were used to siphon the money from ATMs and send the money electronically — either by a wire transfer or using digital currencies such as E-gold and Web Money — to a bank account in Latvia. Gonzalez’s portion of the booty was then transferred to other bank accounts, some of them opened under fictitious names. Zaman’s job in the U.S. was to withdraw funds from these accounts at ATMs in various locations across the United States, and then send the cash to Gonzalez in Florida.

Zaman also traveled to San Francisco three times in late 2005 and early 2006 and met with “an unknown man of apparent Eastern European descent” who slipped him between $50,000 and $370,000 in cash each time. Zaman then shipped the money via Federal Express to Gonzalez. Zaman also made about three trips to New York to pick up cash for Gonzalez. Each time, he earned 10 percent of the amount shipped.

In March 2008, two months before Gonzalez was arrested in Florida, Zaman sent him ATM system logs from Barclays, a bank where Zaman was working as a programmer. Prosecutors said Gonzalez uploaded the logs to a Latvian server he controlled and shared with others, but there is no evidence that the logs were used for nefarious purposes before Gonzalez’s arrest or after.

In addition to the Barclays ATM logs, investigators found 16.3 million payment card numbers on the Latvian server and an additional 27.5 million card numbers on a server in the Ukraine.

Gonzalez is currently facing a minimum 17-year sentence in prison.

Prosecutors had sought only 46 months and a $75,000 fine for Zaman because his activities were limited solely to money laundering. The government said it had “no evidence that Zaman participated in, or reasonably foresaw the extent of, the intrusions and data thefts perpetrated by the Gonzalez organization.”

Prosecutors said Zaman did not provide “substantial assistance” in the investigation or prosecution of anyone else. He provided information about his own activities, the authorities said.

According to the prosecution’s sentencing memo (.pdf), Zaman was a popular kid with lots of friends. He was a member of chess, debate and math clubs and was on a successful career path, earning $130,000 plus bonuses from Barclays.

“But he enjoyed partying and using expensive recreational drugs when he wasn’t working,” prosecutors said. “So he needed cash beyond his six-figure legitimate income.”

Zaman’s attorney did not immediately respond for comment.

See also:

• Former Morgan Stanley Coder Gets 2 Years in Prison for TJX Hack
• TJX Hacker Was Awash in Cash; His Penniless Coder Faces Prison

Deadlocked jurors in the Hal Turner hate blogger case were excused late Wednesday after deliberating two days. It’s the second mistrial in the government’s case to prosecute the New Jersey man for allegedly threatening to kill judges.

Assistant U.S. Attorney William Hogan said a new trial was “highly likely.” A third trial was tentatively scheduled April 12 in New York federal court.

Turner, of New Jersey, blogged at turnerradionetwork.blogspot.com that the three judges of the Chicago-based 7th U.S. Circuit of Appeals should be “killed” for upholding a Chicago handgun ban in June.

“Let me be the first to say this plainly: These judges deserve to be killed. Their blood will replenish the tree of liberty. A small price to pay to assure freedom for millions,” the 47-year-old blogger wrote.

He also posted addresses, photos, maps and other identifying information about Chief Judge Frank Easterbrook and Judges Richard Posner and William Bauer.

The first mistrial in December was declared after jurors, deliberating two days, said they were hopelessly deadlocked. That happened again Wednesday with a new jury. That second jury, and not the first one, heard testimony from the three judges who said they felt threatened by Turner’s writings.

Turner, who remains free, claimed he was an Federal Bureau of Investigation informant paid to disseminate right-wing rhetoric. Facing up to a decade in prison if convicted, the 47-year-old maintained the First Amendment protected his speech.

See Also:

• Lawyer: FBI Paid Right-Wing Blogger Charged With Threats
• Lawyer: FBI Paid Right-Wing Blogger Charged With Threats
• Mistrial in Case of Hate Blogger Charged With Judge Threats …
• Palin Hacker Group’s All-Time Greatest Hits
• Blogger Threatened to Murder Judges, Feds Say

Pink Floyd prevailed Thursday in a legal brawl with its label when a British judge ordered EMI to stop selling individual downloads of the acid-inspired group’s songs without permission.

The artists behind The Dark Side of the Moon and The Wall, and other top sellers claimed its decade-old contract with EMI required the band’s music to be sold as an entire album, not as single tracks in which EMI has permitted iTunes to distribute.

High Court of Justice Judge Andrew Morritt of London agreed, ruling the 1999 agreement with EMI was crafted to “preserve the artistic integrity of the albums.”

Pink Floyd said its musical craft surrounding concept albums was being misrepresented when sold in singles. EMI claimed the contract allowed digital sales of Pink Floyd music, even one song at a time.

The Dark Side of the Moon turned 37 years old on Wednesday. Wired’s Underwire blog declared it “Earth’s reigning concept album.”

Photo: wonderferret/Flickr

See Also:

• Pink Floyd, EMI Brawl Over iTunes Royalties
• Pink Floyd’s Dark Side Eclipses Concept Album Classics
• May 12, 1967: Pink Floyd Astounds With ‘Sound in the Round’
• Pink Floyd’s ‘Echoes’ = 2001’s Space Baby?
• RIP: Pink Floyd’s Richard Wright
• Pink Floyd Wins A Polar! Wait, What’s A Polar?
• Pink Floyd’s Nick Mason on Formula 1 Tech

Pink Floyd prevailed Thursday in a legal brawl with its label when a British judge ordered EMI to stop selling individual downloads of the acid-inspired group’s songs without permission.

The artists behind The Dark Side of the Moon and The Wall, and other top sellers claimed its decade-old contract with EMI required the band’s music to be sold as an entire album, not as single tracks in which EMI has permitted iTunes to distribute.

High Court of Justice Judge Andrew Morritt of London agreed, ruling the 1999 agreement with EMI was crafted to “preserve the artistic integrity of the albums.”

Pink Floyd said its musical craft surrounding concept albums was being misrepresented when sold in singles. EMI claimed the contract allowed digital sales of Pink Floyd music, even one song at a time.

The Dark Side of the Moon turned 37 years old on Wednesday. Wired’s Underwire blog declared it “Earth’s reigning concept album.”

Photo: wonderferret/Flickr

See Also:

• Pink Floyd, EMI Brawl Over iTunes Royalties
• Pink Floyd’s Dark Side Eclipses Concept Album Classics
• May 12, 1967: Pink Floyd Astounds With ‘Sound in the Round’
• Pink Floyd’s ‘Echoes’ = 2001’s Space Baby?
• RIP: Pink Floyd’s Richard Wright
• Pink Floyd Wins A Polar! Wait, What’s A Polar?
• Pink Floyd’s Nick Mason on Formula 1 Tech