SEATTLE — A former Seattle software engineer was convicted of wire fraud and other crimes in connection to a 2019 Capital One hack that impacted millions of people.
A jury found Paige A. Thompson, 36, guilty Friday of wire fraud, five counts of unauthorized access to a protected computer and damaging a protected computer. She was found not guilty of access device fraud and aggravated identity theft.
The hack impacted more than 100 million U.S. Capital One customers. At the time, Capital One said the compromised information included 140,000 Social Security numbers and 80,000 bank account numbers. It is among the largest breaches on record involving a major U.S. financial institution.
Thompson used a tool that she built to scan Amazon Web Services accounts and search for misconfigured accounts. She then used those accounts to hack into 30 entities, including Capital One, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Prosecutors said Thompson planted cryptocurrency mining software on new servers and pocketed the income from mining.
Thompson also “bragged” about her exploits on online forums and in texts, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Thompson is set to be sentenced Sept. 15. Wire fraud is punishable by up to 20 years in prison, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Capital One was fined $80 million after the breach and settled customer lawsuits for $190 million.