Two Russian hackers who helped pull off the biggest electronic heists of the 2000s were sentenced to years in federal prison on Thursday. Vladimir Drinkman, 37, and Dmitriy Smilianets, 34, pleaded guilty to conspiracy charges in 2015 for hacking the likes of JetBlue, Hannaford, 7-Eleven and Heartland Payment Systems. The 2008 Heartland hack alone scored the hackers an estimated 100 million credit card numbers, which were then offered for sale on the black market. Both Muscovites caught a break at sentencing. Smilianets, a middleman in the capers, was sentenced to 51 months time served, while Drinkman got 12 years. In 2010 the Russians’ stateside partner, Albert Gonzalez, was sentenced to 20 years in prison.
—Kevin Poulsen
