Max Vision/Blind Justice

Click here to read what I consider to be a fantastic story "on Wired (One Hacker's Audacious Plan to Rule the Black Market in Stolen Credit Cards) about one Max Butler, better known amongst security researchers as "Max Vision" who's about to (yet again) see what happens when subjected to "blind justice." At the end of the day, you can steal all the credit card information you want, but if you don't know the PIN code, you wouldn't be able to use them...except online, where PIN debit is frightening absent. HomeATM aims to correct this faux pas with "it's vision" of bringing PIN based transactions to the web...

Apparently Max isn't quite the visionary he thought he was...because most everyone else would've seen this coming from a million miles away.

Speaking of seeing something coming from a million miles away...let me take a crack at being a visionary...

The way I see it Max is positioned to become the next Frank Abagnale Jr. Unlike Frank Abagnale, Max Vision was a renowned security consultant first, but got played by the FBI (see Max Vision...FBI Pawn?) and, in what I'm guessing was an act of rebellion, evolved into "Evil Max" after his release from jail.

His "storied" hacking past (dating back to May 1998 when he penetrated a series of Defense Department computers) makes for a novel book idea and even merits some big screen potential. The stars are aligned...2009 is predicted to be the "Year of the Hacker" so I suspect he'll get some maximum exposure, being one of the original super hackers.

Ironically another "Max", former PayPal founder, Max Levchin rubs elbows in Hollywood, (he was Executive Producer for Thank You For Smoking , which BTW was absolutely hilarious) Given his "payment processing" background, combined with the fact that Evil Max wanted to "rule the black market world in stolen payment cards" he'd be the ideal person to bring this to the silver screen.

Speaking of movies, click below to see how professional card counterfeiting differs from card cloning, which the Today Show ran last week.

Fraudsters rack up millions of dollars in merchandise using fake credit cards with legit numbers hacked off the Internet. Detective Bob Watts of Newport Beach PD shows how it's done.

More on Max Vision:

Max Vision charged with hacking -- again
Sep 12, 2007 ... Federal prosecutors charge former security consultant Max Butler, better known amongst security researchers as "Max Vision," alleging that ...

Max Vision: FBI pawn?
May 5, 2001... FBI agents called him 'the Equalizer': a security expert and confessed hacker who infiltrated the electronic underground to help the Bureau. www.securityfocus.com/news/203 - 34k

A 'White Hat' Goes to Jail
"Max Vision," a renowned hacker, security expert and FBI informant, is sentenced to prison in a case that angers many in the hacking and cracking community.

• Eliminate Risk, Says Frank Abagnale
• Crime Prevention Tips From Famous Thief
• 2009: Year of the Hacker (Kevin Kelleher/GigaOM)