The internet is a magical place, a place to present your ideas, and a trove of easily-accessible information. But with light comes shadow, and like all good things, there is a darker use for the Internet. It’s no surprise that we use technology as a means to better our lives, but some people also use this good for their gain. This was the case with 36-year-old Paige Thompson, a former Amazon engineer.
Thompson worked as a software engineer for Amazon and built an online community welcoming other workers in the industry. But, as stated by Nicholas Brown, the U.S. attorney for the Western District of Washington, “Ms. Thompson used her hacking skills to steal the personal information of more than 100 million people, and hijacked computer servers to mine cryptocurrency.” In July of 2019, Capital One discovered a leak in its system after a client talked to Thompson regarding her illegal downloads and reported her activity.
Thompson had originally been brought up on multiple charges: wire fraud, hacking, identity theft, and access device fraud. She was found guilty of wire fraud and hacking but not guilty of identity theft and access device fraud due to the argument that she was using the same tools used by white-hat hackers, hired hackers that find and report bugs in the system that may potentially be dangerous. But with her posts bragging about her accomplishments, the Justice Department ruled that Thompson never intended to report the bugs for fixing. “She wanted data, she wanted money, and she wanted to brag,” said Andrew Friedman, an assistant U.S. attorney, said.
In the end, the jury found Thompson guilty on 5 accounts of unauthorized access to protected computers and damaging protected computers, along with wire fraud charges. Her sentence is scheduled for the 15th of September.
With cases like these, you may find it hard to trust other people with your sensitive information. And the sad truth is, there will always be others out there who will do the same thing in a heartbeat. But it is important that even though darkness comes with light, there are still many good things to outweigh the bad. But in the meantime, I think we should heavily encourage people to report even the slightest irregularity they notice.
Link:
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/06/17/technology/paige-thompson-capital-one-hack.html
Thompson worked as a software engineer for Amazon and built an online community welcoming other workers in the industry. But, as stated by Nicholas Brown, the U.S. attorney for the Western District of Washington, “Ms. Thompson used her hacking skills to steal the personal information of more than 100 million people, and hijacked computer servers to mine cryptocurrency.” In July of 2019, Capital One discovered a leak in its system after a client talked to Thompson regarding her illegal downloads and reported her activity.
Thompson had originally been brought up on multiple charges: wire fraud, hacking, identity theft, and access device fraud. She was found guilty of wire fraud and hacking but not guilty of identity theft and access device fraud due to the argument that she was using the same tools used by white-hat hackers, hired hackers that find and report bugs in the system that may potentially be dangerous. But with her posts bragging about her accomplishments, the Justice Department ruled that Thompson never intended to report the bugs for fixing. “She wanted data, she wanted money, and she wanted to brag,” said Andrew Friedman, an assistant U.S. attorney, said.
In the end, the jury found Thompson guilty on 5 accounts of unauthorized access to protected computers and damaging protected computers, along with wire fraud charges. Her sentence is scheduled for the 15th of September.
With cases like these, you may find it hard to trust other people with your sensitive information. And the sad truth is, there will always be others out there who will do the same thing in a heartbeat. But it is important that even though darkness comes with light, there are still many good things to outweigh the bad. But in the meantime, I think we should heavily encourage people to report even the slightest irregularity they notice.
Link:
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/06/17/technology/paige-thompson-capital-one-hack.html
