Albert Gonzalez, 28, was involved in some of the major data breaches between 2005-2008 including Heartland, Hannaford Bros., 7-Eleven, T.J. Maxx, Marshalls, BJ’s Wholesale Club, OfficeMax, Barnes & Noble, Sports Authority, Dave & Busters, Boston Market, Forever 21, and DSW. He stole data from over 170 million credit and debit cards as part of an international criminal organization. Data security experts emphasize the importance of securing IT environments, managing and retaining data securely, and managing IT risk and compliance to keep consumer information safe from cyber criminals.