By: Darren Xie

Recently, Paige Thompson, a former Amazon employee, was convicted after stealing data from 100 million Capital One customers. She was charged with wire fraud and hacking, among other things.

This was one of the largest hacking events in the United States. Many people hack to help find security risks in companies. These people are known as “ethical hackers”. On the other hand, “Ms. Thompson used her hacking skills to steal the personal information of more than 100 million people, and hijacked computer servers to mine cryptocurrency,” said Nicholas W. Brown, the U.S. attorney for the Western District of Washington.

Furthermore, she didn’t just steal Capital One Customers’ information, she also used Capital One server for cryptocurrency mining and damaged a protected computer.

Though she was smart enough to hack into a S&P 500 corporation, she wasn’t smart enough to keep quite. “She wanted data, she wanted money, and she wanted to brag,” Andrew Friedman, an assistant U.S. attorney, said in closing arguments.

Ms. Thompson was caught after someone she spoke to told Capital One, who later reported her to the FBI. She was arrested shortly after.

Ms. Thompson was found guilty of five counts of gaining unauthorized access to a protected computer and damaging a protected computer, in addition to the wire fraud charges. She is scheduled to be sentenced on Sept. 15.

Regulators stated that Capital One servers weren’t protected enough and Capital One agreed to pay $80 million to settle the claims. They also agreed to pay $190 million to their customers who had their data stolen by Ms. Thompson.

Link: https://s3.amazonaws.com/appforest_uf/f1655668302581x867950589613879900/Ex-Amazon%20Worker%20Convicted%20in%20Capital%20One%20Hacking%20-%20The%20New%20York%20Times.p