US prosecutors¹ have charged a man with stealing data relating to 130 million credit and debit² cards.

美国检察官控告一名偷窃1300万张信用卡和借记卡信息的男子。

The card details were allegedly stolen from three firms, including 7-Eleven

Officials say it is the biggest case of identity theft（身份盗窃） in American history.

They say Albert Gonzales, 28, and two unnamed Russian co-conspirators（同谋者，阴谋者） hacked³ into the payment systems of retailers⁴, including the 7-Eleven chain.

Prosecutors say they aimed to sell the data on. If convicted, Mr Gonzales faces up to 20 years in jail for wire fraud（电子欺诈行为） and five years for conspiracy⁵.

He would also have to pay a fine of $250,000 (£150,000) for each of the two charges.

Mr Gonzales used a complicated technique known as an "SQL injection attack" to penetrate⁶ networks' firewalls and steal information, the US Department of Justice said.

His corporate⁷ victims included Heartland Payment Systems - a card payment processor, convenience store 7-Eleven and Hannaford Brothers, a supermarket chain, the DOJ said.

According to the indictment⁸（起诉，控告）, the group researched the credit and debit card（提款卡，借记卡） systems used by their victims, attacked their networks and sent the data to computer servers they operated in California, Illinois, Latvia, the Netherlands and Ukraine.

The data could then be sold on, enabling others to make fraudulent purchases, it said.

Mr Gonzales is already in custody⁹（被拘留中） on separate charges of hacking¹⁰ into the computer system of a national restaurant chain.

This latest case will raise fresh concerns about the security of credit and debit cards used in the United States, the BBC's Greg Wood reports.