Used Knowledge of Servers and Cloud Storage to Steal Data
from Millions of Credit Applications
A former
Seattle technology company software engineer was arrested today on a criminal
complaint charging computer fraud and abuse for an intrusion on the stored data
of Capital One Financial Corporation, announced U.S. Attorney Brian T.
Moran. PAIGE A. THOMPSON a/k/a erratic,
33, made her initial appearance in U.S. District Court in Seattle today and was
ordered detained pending a hearing on August 1, 2019.
According
to the criminal complaint, THOMPSON posted on the information sharing site
GitHub about her theft of information from the servers storing Capital One
data. The intrusion occurred through a misconfigured web application firewall
that enabled access to the data. On July
17, 2019, a GitHub user who saw the post alerted Capital One to the possibility
it had suffered a data theft. After
determining on July 19, 2019, that there had been an intrusion into its data,
Capital One contacted the FBI. Cyber
investigators were able to identify THOMPSON as the person who was posting
about the data theft. This morning
agents executed a search warrant at THOMPSON’s residence and seized electronic
storage devices containing a copy of the data.
“Capital One
quickly alerted law enforcement to the data theft -- allowing the FBI to trace
the intrusion,” said U.S. Attorney Moran.
“I commend our law enforcement partners who are doing all they can to
determine the status of the data and secure it.”
Computer
fraud and abuse is punishable by up to five years in prison and a $250,000
fine.
The
charges contained in the complaint are only allegations. A person is presumed innocent unless and
until he or she is proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.
The case
is being investigated by the FBI. The
case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Steven Masada and
Andrew Friedman.
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