What you need to know about Paige Thompson, the ex-Amazon employee suspected of the massive Capital One hack
Paige Thompson is a 33-year-old software engineer. She's known online by her alias "erratic."
According to Thompson's resume found online, she attended Bellevue Community College in Washington in 2005. However, she left after a little more than a year to pursue a career opportunity.
Source: Gitlab
Thompson was arrested Monday in Seattle, where she resides. Since leaving college, she's worked as a software and systems engineer at various companies in the Seattle area.
Source: Justice Department, Gitlab
Most recently, Thompson worked as a systems engineer for Amazon's cloud software business, Amazon Web Services, which Capital One uses. An Amazon spokesperson told Bloomberg that she last worked there in 2016.
A "firewall misconfiguration" left Capital One's cloud servers vulnerable, which Thompson was able to access. She worked on Amazon's cloud products when she was employed there, but an Amazon spokesperson told Bloomberg the hack didn't require insider knowledge.
According to the Department of Justice, Thompson posted about her data breach on GitHub, a website for developers to share code. A GitHub user, only identified as an "external security researcher," saw what Thompson had shared, and tipped off Capital One.
Source: Department of Justice, Business Insider
Further investigation by Capital One and the FBI found more instance where Thompson had boasted about her hack. The FBI found she has posted about it in Slack, Twitter, and Meetup.
On Twitter, where she goes by the alias "erratic," Thompson sent a direct message reading, ""Ive basically strapped myself with a bomb vest, f------ dropping capital ones box and admitting it."
Source: Business Insider
Thompson is charged with one count of computer fraud and abuse. If convicted, she could face a sentence of up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
Source: Business Insider
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