Former employee sentenced for hacking retailer's Web site
A former employee of American Eagle Outfitters was sentenced to 1 1/2 years in federal prison on Tuesday for posting passwords online to the retailer's Web site and orchestrating an Internet attack.
Kenneth Patterson, 38, of Greensburg, must also pay more than $64,000 in restitution as part of his September guilty pleas to password trafficking and computer damage. He could have been sentenced to a maximum 11 years in prison and fined as much as $350,000.
Patterson's attorney, Martin Dietz, said he was pleased that the judge's sentence was less than prosecutors had been seeking.
"The government tried to blame Ken Patterson for all (American Eagle's) losses," Dietz said.
Federal prosecutors said that Patterson posted user names and passwords for American Eagle users on an Internet hackers' group bulletin board and detailed instructions on how to hack into the company's system after he was fired last year.
