‘Iceman’ Cards Hacker Frozen by FBI

PITTSBURGH – A computer expert who served as a confidential source for an elite FBI computer crime squad was indicted on federal charges yesterday of stealing confidential information from Pentagon FCU, Citibank and others to traffic in stolen credit cards. Max Ray Butler, 35, also known as the Iceman, was charged with running an online marketplace for stolen credit card information at cardersmarket.com that is used by third parties to manufacture phony credit cards, a practice known as “carding.” Butler allegedly stole the cards data by hacking into the computer systems of Pentagon FCU, Citibank and a government employee. Though he lives in San Francisco, Butler was charged in Pittsburgh because he sold more than 100 credit card numbers and related information to a western Pennsylvania resident who is cooperating with the investigation. The number of cards reportedly compromised by Butler and his accomplices is said to be in the thousands. Butler previously served 18 months in prison for hacking into computers at University of California Berkeley, national laboratories, federal agencies, Air Force bases and a NASA flight center. Some of these crimes took place while he was supposed to be working undercover for the FBI. But at his sentencing in 2001, a federal prosecutor said Butler “masqueraded as an informant for the FBI, claiming to cooperate with law enforcement while using computer programs that conducted automated, unauthorized system checks.”