CINCINNATI (AP) - A man who pleaded guilty to hacking into an Arkansas data company's computer system and stealing personal identification files was sentenced Wednesday to nearly four years in federal prison.
Daniel J. Baas, 26, of suburban Milford, entered his plea in December 2003, after being indicted that August.
Baas was a systems administrator for Market Intelligence Group, which had an agreement to analyze data for Acxiom Corp., of Little Rock, Ark., when he exceeded his authorized access and downloaded encrypted password files, prosecutors said.
In a plea agreement, Baas admitted that he stole the data between January 2001 and January 2003 and stored it on computer disks at his home, prosecutors said. On Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Susan Dlott sentenced Baas to 45 months in prison.
Acxiom's clients include credit card issuers, banks, auto manufacturers, telecommunications companies and retailers. Baas bragged to other hackers that he had the files, but didn't share them with anyone, prosecutors said.
Acxiom said Baas' intrusion and theft of about 300 computer passwords and files cost the company $5.8 million, prosecutors said.
That includes employees' time and travel expenses, payments for security audits and encryption software, and the amount that Baas would have been charged had he obtained the information legitimately as an Acxiom customer, the company said.
