Charlotte, NC, August 5--Three Michigan men pled guilty to charges that they conspired to hack into the national computer system of the home improvement chain Lowe's to steal credit card information, federal authorities said Wednesday.
Under plea agreements, Brian Salcedo, Adam Botbyl and Paul Timmins pleaded guilty to just handful of the 16 charges each man originally faced, the U.S. Attorney's office said.
Meanwhile, Lowe's officials said the men did not gain access to the company's national credit-card database and that they believed all customers' credit card information was secure.
Under a plea agreement, Salcedo, of Whitmore Lake, Mich., pleaded guilty to four counts: conspiracy; transmitting computer code to cause damage to a computer; unauthorized computer access; and computer fraud.
The charges carry a maximum penalty of 25 years in prison. Under terms of the agreement, prosecutors will recommend that Salcedo serve about half that, 12 years and seven months.
Botbyl, of Waterford, Mich., pleaded guilty to one count, conspiracy, with a recommendation that he serve three years, five months. He could have faced five years.
Charges against Timmins were dropped, and instead he pleaded guilty to a new charge of unauthorized access to a protected computer. Prosecutors said that may be the first conviction in the nation for "wardriving."
In wardriving, hackers search for vulnerable wireless Internet connections. The original indictment charged that Botbyl and Timmins drove around Southfield, Mich., in April 2003, searching for a vulnerable connection, "using a laptop computer equipped with a wireless card and a wireless antenna."
