What you need to know about Paige Thompson, the ex-Amazon employee suspected of the massive Capital One hack

Paige LeskinJul 31, 2019, 00:24 IST

Drew Angerer/Getty Images

Capital One was hit with a major data hack affecting over 100 million customers' Social Security and bank account numbers.
The person behind the data hack has been identified as Paige Thompson, a 33-year-old software engineer who formally worked for Amazon.
Thompson boasted about the hack on GitHub, Slack, and Twitter, according to federal court documents.
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A hacker responsible for breaching the data of over 100 million Capital One customers was arrested Monday after boasting about what she did online.

The suspect is accused of stealing data from millions of customers, including Social Security numbers, linked bank accounts, and other personal information, Capital One disclosed Monday.

The Justice Department identified the suspect as Paige Thompson, a software engineer in Seattle who formerly worked for Amazon. She was caught after she was found to have been boasting after the Capital One hack online, court documents say.

Thompson could face up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine if convicted.

Here's everything we know about Paige Thompson, the suspect behind the Capital One hack affecting 100 million customers:

See 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."

Source: Justice Department

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.

Source: Gitlab, Bloomberg

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.