"Seattle Woman Gets Probation for Massive Capital One Hack"
A former Seattle tech worker convicted of several charges related to a massive hack of Capital One bank and other companies in 2019 was sentenced Tuesday to time served and five years of probation. After the verdict, U.S. District Judge Robert S. Lasnik stated that sentencing former Amazon software engineer Paige Thompson to prison would have been particularly difficult on her "because of her mental health and transgender status." U.S. Attorney Nick Brown said his office was "very disappointed" with the sentencing decision, adding prosecutors had asked for Thompson to serve seven years in prison. In June, a Seattle jury found her guilty of wire fraud, unauthorized access to a protected computer, and damaging a protected computer. The jury acquitted her of other charges, including access device fraud and aggravated identity theft. Thompson, 37, obtained the personal information of over 100 million people, a data breach that prompted Capital One to reach a $190 million settlement with affected customers. After the breach, the Treasury Department fined the company $80 million for failing to protect the data. Thompson's attorneys argued at trial that she struggled with mental health issues, never intended to profit from the data she obtained, and said in court papers that "there is no credible or direct evidence that a single person's identity was misused." Federal prosecutors said she didn't just steal the data but also planted software on servers she unlawfully accessed to steal computing power to mine cryptocurrency. Federal prosecutors also stated that Ms. Thompson's hacking and theft of information of 100 million people did more than $250 million in damage to companies and individuals and that this conduct deserves a more significant sanction. Thompson was arrested in July 2019 and remained in Jail until November of that year. The amount of restitution Thompson will have to pay victims will be determined at a December hearing.
SecurityWeek reports: "Seattle Woman Gets Probation for Massive Capital One Hack"